


it puts the heart in my chest on wings

by Tallbutt



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-01 15:30:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8629459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallbutt/pseuds/Tallbutt
Summary: The Bet: HSAU Stylez





	1. Chapter 1

The bet is not Amy’s fault. It’s Jake’s. Okay, fine, to be _painfully_ honest, it’s a mix- but mostly Jake’s.

Which means it’s not totally her fault when she’s sitting in detention because of a lunch fight that got a little (a lot) out of hand. A lunch fight that she might’ve, maybe started when she threw Boyle’s gross lunch at Jake, who then threw Terry’s yogurt at her and that might’ve escalated into the biggest lunch fight in the history of Brooklyn 99th High School, but not her fault.

(Sort of.)

It was not her idea to be in a bet for highest grade with Jake-was-that-due-today-Peralta. But Amy is a competitive person, which could be her demise in such situations. For example, a year ago, when she got kicked out of the last magnet school she was at. 

(Not her fault that her model volcano spewed real lava and set the gym on fire. They should've invested in fire-proof walls)

It all started when Jake got a higher grade than her in Holt’s monthly quiz. She was shocked, startled even, when she saw the shining A+ on his exam, compared to the slightly duller A on hers.

Jake didn’t get good grades, Jake didn’t even do his homework, much less study for Holt’s exam. He was proud of his badge of C’s, wearing and flaunting them as one does A’s. Jake was lazy, she was not.

So, obviously, she exclaims, “You so did not get a higher grade than me!’, making Holt raise his eyebrow in that sort-of judgy way, in that way that makes her straighten up in seat. “I mean, Jake how did you get such a high grade?” she chokes on her fake laughs. Jake watches on in amusement, quite used to seeing her put her metaphorical foot in her mouth.

“Miss. Santiago, are you implying that I am unable to grade correctly?” Holt asks from the front of the room. The stiffness of his shoulders and the unimpressed eye twitch of his eye makes Amy swallow uneasily.

“Definitely not, sir. It’s just that-“

“Just what?” Once again, Amy’s breath is sticking in her lungs as she fails to think of anything to say, not wanting to disrupt the rapport she has with Holt so far.

The problem is, there’s not exactly any rapport. She’s always been class favorite, _always,_ but it seems that Jake –yes, Jake, is Holt’s pet project this semester. Amy’s had this before, teachers who took her diligent manners as unauthentic and it’s never bothered her before—much. But, Holt is the only teacher she actually cares about, the one teacher in the whole school whose class is an actual challenge.

And, also, she’s pretty sure he’s _thisfreakingclose_ to giving her a recommendation to Major Magnet School, the only magnet school in the twenty mile radius that she wasn’t blacklisted or kicked out from. The only school she wants to attend for her senior year.

“I was just congratulating Jake on his excellent grade.” She fake grins, as Jake grins very much for reals next to her, knowing very well how much this is killing her.

“Yep. She was just admitting how amazing I am while making sexually-suggestive remarks. Now, I don’t usually condone them but Amy just has a certain way with words.” Jake leans back on his chair and Amy glares at his relaxed figure. Jake winks.

“I would appreciate if you would both separate your personal life from your scholarly one.” Holt remarks as Amy sputters, the words lodged in her throat. Because, gross, Holt is not implying what she thinks he’s implying.

Except he is and _gross_.

“Uh, sir-” she begins but Jake beats her to it.

“I’ll try, Mr. Holt but Amy is the crazy one.” 

“Well, please keep your hands away from each other during class time.”

“Will do.”

Holt continues class before Amy can comment.

Amy glares at him, promising to punch his forearm the hardest she can as soon as they get out of class. Jake just grins back.

After class, Jake gets his hard punch, just as promised and well-earned.

“Ow, Amy! I bruise easily, you know.” He rubs his arm and follows after as she makes her way to her locker. Amy finds it hard to care.

His sneakers squeak down the hallway as Amy dodges her way to her locker.

“Shut it. You know what you did. How did you get a higher grade than me? Did you cheat?”

“Wow, I am hurt. I thought we were friends, Amy. Why is it your first thought that I cheated? Maybe I’m just smarter than you.” he says so close to her ear she can hear his breath. Amy bats him away and he chuckles.

“I really doubt you’re smarter than me.”

“The test begs to differ.”

“Jake, you thought ricotta was a type of rice.” she stops at her locker, rolling her eyes as she begins to unlock it.

“And I’m not the first one to make that observation, Amy.”

“Not an observation.” She retorts and opens her locker, crossing her arms, waiting for an answer to her previous question. She’s actually curious to see what he has to say to answer for himself. “So?”

Jake rolls his eyes. “Fi _ne_ , Gina’s cousin took him last year and he had all the answers.”

“So you cheated?” Amy says in a deadpan voice, putting away her English notebook and taking out her Science book, all neatly labeled and organized, just the ways she likes it. Jake teases her for it but he’s no one to judge; his locker looks like a garbage can and so does his backpack, where he stores his undone homework and unopened textbooks.

“Eh, I don’t like to put labels on it.”

“I do. It’s called cheating.” she says. “Meanwhile, I studied for eight hours and for what?”

“To get a lower grade than me, obviously.”

Amy just rolls her eyes, closing her locker and turning on her heel to the cafeteria. Jake follows closely after her, his sneakers squeaking behind her. She doesn’t need to turn to know he’s wearing that infuriating grin when he knows that he messed with her, when he knows that she’s annoyed. It’s a look he wears often, at least in the last eight months that she’s been in the 99th. 

The first day that she came to the 99th, he sat right next to her in Holt’s class, the class Amy was anticipating the most and he whispered loudly to her all class long. It was not even interesting things but just side comments to whatever Holt was saying. She had sent him a side-glare, not wanting her first day to be sullied with a detention but he didn’t relent. Finally, she said, “Please stop talking” and Holt had stopped class, questioning to know what was important enough to derail from the lesson.

She had pointed and had said, “He did it! I wasn’t even talking.” Holt was not impressed and chastised her for raising her voice.

She had turned and glared at Jake, who was smiling in that annoying way.

After class, he had tried to introduce himself and she had walked the other way. Unlucky for her, Rosa, her first friend at 99th, was basically best friends with Jake, so she had to deal with him all the time.

Over time, she developed a ‘Spidey sense’ sort of premonition to that dumb smile.

She stops, making him bump into her, and turns. He’s closer to her than she’d thought and she pauses for a second, taken aback, before stepping back and clearing her throat.

“This was nothing but a fluke. I _will_ get the higher grade on the midterm and then Holt will write me my recommendation.”

Jake narrows his eyes, stepping forward, inhibiting her space again. “Willing to bet?” he asks. Amy scoffs, rolling her eyes, stepping back automatically. “Or are you too chicken?”

It wasn’t the first time they bet on stuff, they always bet what color shirt Hitchcock would be wearing or what variation of disgusting meat Boyle would be bringing.

This, however, is different. This is about grades, one of the few things that Amy really cares about so, now, this is personal.

Amy narrows her eyes. “Are _you_?”

“Nope.” He replies, popping the ‘p’ in that way he knows will just _annoy_ Amy. He grins when he catches Amy grinding her teeth.

“Fine.” She replies because she’s more than sure that this was but a one-time fluke and nothing else. She’ll show Jake Peralta who’s the better at Holt’s class. “I’ll bet.”

“What are you losers arguing about?” Rosa asks, sidling over them, Boyle in tow. Jake and Amy’s eyes remain on one another, not willing to be the first one to look away.

“Amy’s jealous that I got a higher grade in Holt’s class and it just kills her to know that Holt likes me more than her.” Jake replies, his eyes not leaving hers.

“I am _not_ jealous!” she retorts, her voice a little too high and shrill. “And, honestly, I don’t even know _why_ he likes you so much.” Jake grins. “Not that I care, because, I don’t but-” she trails off because Jake’s grinning and Rosa and Boyle don’t look convinced.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s my devilishly handsome face?”

“I was thinking more along the fact that he’s taking you along like a pet project, you know, as one does to a sickly cat.” She retorts.

“Don’t listen to her, Jake. Your face is fine just the way it is.” Boyle pipes up, the ever so loving friend.

“Thanks, bud. And Amy, Aw, cute; you’re jealous.” He wags his finger close to her face with that elated smirk back on his face.

“Am not!” she smacks his hand away, reveling in the sharp slap it emits. His smirk doesn’t falter, if anything, he looks smugger than ever.

“Sure, Amy. Let’s try to pretend that you aren’t totally dying of a jealousy at the thought of Holt liking me over you.”

“That’s because I’m not.” She raises her eyebrows hotly, crossing her arms. “And he doesn’t.”

“So, you on for the bet?”

“What bet?” Rosa asks.

“Ooh, is it about whose going to wash the other’s hair because, if so, I have this great shampoo-“

“Nope.” Jake interrupts. “Not about that, Boyle.”

“Jake bet me that he could get a higher grade than me on Holt’s midterm.” Amy answers, raising her eyebrows. Boyle and Rosa share a look.

“What’s that look supposed to mean?” Jake asks. “I’m plenty smart. I watched CNN last night and I only fell asleep once!”

“Dude, come on, you gotta admit that Amy has the bigger advantage over you.”

“Boyle?”

“Sorry, Jakey but Rosa’s right.” Boyle nods. “She stole the valedictorian place as soon as she got here.”

“Well, if Amy’s such a smarty-pants, then how did I get a higher grade than her in the last Holt test?”

“By cheating.” Amy answers with a shrug. “You literally admitted to that earlier.”

“I said I didn’t want to put a label on it.”

Amy rolls her eyes. “Fine. If we’re gonna do that bet, we gotta have rules.”

“Okay. First rule:” Jake begins. “You can’t fall in love with me.”

Amy scoffs, perplexed at the sheer absurdity of it all. “You wish.”

“You say this now but four months from now you’re going to be throwing rocks at my window, wanting to confess your love.”

“Don’t count on it.” she says with an eye roll. “Second rule: no cheating. At all. If one or the other is caught cheating, there’s an automatic disqualification. So, no asking Gina’s cousin Isaac for the answers and no copying off of my tests.”

“Fine.” Jake replies. Rosa and Boyle watch on, both interested and a little amazed that Jake is digging himself into that hole. Boyle even looks a little worried and feverish.

“What are you guys even betting on?” Rosa asks. Jake and Amy share a look, both of them surprised by the fact that this could entail some sort of prize for either of them. Their earlier bets never really did.

“I don’t…” Amy trails off.

“Bragging rights.” Jake says with a shrug.

“It’ll hardly be a brag for Amy, though. She always gets the highest grades.” Boyle interrupts.

“And once again, buddy, thanks for all the faith.” Jake mutters, Boyle cringes.

“Sorry, Jakey.”

“Boyle’s right.” Rosa states with a nod towards Amy. “Amy’s gonna win.” Amy beams.

“What do you think, Boyle?” Jake asks.

“I still don’t think you should do it, Jakey.”

“Oh! I know! You can lend me your car for the weekend. Patrick O’Hannedy is having an organizing seminar and my mom refuses to drive me; she says they’re filled with old people and old people give her hives.”

“What? No. I’m not letting you take my precious baby to some lame convention; you’re gonna fill it with nerd germs. That car has gotten me laid precisely four and half times, I don’t want your weird nerd germs to scare the charm away.”

“I can’t believe you still believe in cooties.” Amy says. “Also, gross.” Amy scrunches up her nose in disgust. “Remind me to Clorox all of the car before I step one foot into it.” Jake rolls his eyes lightly as he thinks it over.

“Wait, wasn’t the half time with Marge?” Rosa asks with a grin.

“With Marge?” Boyle winces a little. “Oh, Jake…”

“Rosa! I told you that in confidence.” He hisses lowly. Rosa just smirks. “Fine.” Jake nearly bites, Amy beams, victorious. “But, if you’re gonna put my precious baby through that nerd-fest then you’re gonna have to go through something on the same boring scale.”

“Depends on what.”

“Nope. You gotta say yes.”

“Fine.”

“You’re gonna have to go on a date with me.”

Amy face goes slack, her beaming expression turning into one of confusion and nervousness. Rosa lets out a loud laugh, obviously entertained by the two dumbos she called friends.

Boyle, on the other hand, lets out a loud squeal that Amy doesn’t detect; the harsh crescendo of her heartbeat in her ears was enough.

“W-What? A date?” Amy nearly screeches. Jake had never shown any romantic interest in her. She desperately racks her brain for any romantic indication she might’ve given him, but finds none. She started dating Teddy pretty early on in the school year, with their relationship ending a month prior.

Sure, there was Hitchcock’s party, which they spent on the roof eating peanuts and talking but that meant nothing. Jake was dating Sofia at the time and she was dating Teddy, too.

Just two friends hanging out, that’s all it was.

“That’s right.” He nods a little, a grin creeping onto his face. “You’re gonna go through the worst date of your life. Unless-” he lords over her, smug expression still intact. “You’re too chicken.”

Amy clenches her teeth, grinding them. A part of her wants to tell Jake to go to hell but the other part of Amy does not back out from a challenge. Especially, a grade centered challenged, in which Amy excels.

So, she went over it in her head, trying to see the pros and cons: if she won, which she most certainly would, she would have a ride to the convention and more organized stuff. There was never too much organization.

On the other hand, on the rare chance that she lost, she would have to go on a date with Jake. Jake, who had never shown romantic interest in her and whom she had never thought of in _that_ way.

Was it worth it? She really couldn’t decide but the spark in Jake’s eyes made her mind up.

She would win, she would make sure of it.

Boyle and Rosa were watching eagerly on, although Boyle looked as eager as can be.

“Fine.” She holds her hand out, arranging her face into a focused expression. “It’s a bet.” Jake beams a little and shakes her hand.

“I can’t wait till you’re crying in my car.” he says as he leans in close and grins in her face.

“I’ll be crying of happiness as I’m driving my way to the convention.” She pauses. “On bleach rinsed seats, of course.”

“Gross, but May the best one win.” Amy raises her eyebrows, smirking a little.

“So, me.”

-

That was then. Now, a month later, Amy sits beneath Mr. Holt’s watchful eye as she plucks pieces of strawberry yogurt from her hair. Jake, sits to her left, reeking of goat stew. They’re the only two in the classroom, watching in the quiet as the clock slowly passes.

Jake sighs.

“Mr. Holt, can I go to the restroom?” he asks.

“The correct way to ask it is, ‘May I go to the restroom’ and no you may not. You lost your bathroom privileges when you threw Mr. Jeffords’s yogurt at Ms. Santiago’s face.” Amy smiles in triumph at Jake. He sticks his tongue out at her. “I wouldn’t smile, Ms. Santiago. You were not innocent in the fight.”

“But, sir”- she chirps, beside her, Jake rolls his eyes-“I was merely responding to a claim that Mr.Peralta stated.”

“A claim? Oh, my god, Amy. This isn’t’ the people’s court.” Jake says. “Sir, I told her she was cheating, because she was! It’s not fair to ask Rosa to help you study, you have to this all by yourself!”

“So, it is fair to ask Boyle to proofread your essays?” Amy retorts. “Boyle got a ‘B’ in English! Do you even want to win this bet?”

“Bet?” Holt asks. Jake and Amy freeze. “What is this ‘bet’.” He quotes.

“Uhm, you see, sir.” Amy chuckles a little, trying to dig herself out of the hole she so stupidly fell into. She doesn’t want Holt to think she’s immature and not give her the recommendation letter.

“Well?” Holt asks. Jake and Amy turn to one another, trying to read the other’s eyes.

Finally, Jake shrugs and says, “I bet Amy that I would get a higher grade in your midterm.”

“I was not made aware of this bet.” Holt narrows his eyes.

“Well, sir, this bet doesn’t really affect our academics or-” she stops at Holt’s unmoving gaze. “Or does it? Oh, God.” she turns to Jake in fear. Jake rolls his eyes.

“We didn’t tell you because it’s just going to higher our grades nothing else.” He mutters to Amy, “See, that was easy, Ames. No need to have a heart attack.

“What are the prizes?”

Now, Amy blushes because the bet--that Jake started, by the way—seems very childish and frankly, embarrassing in front of Holt.

She cringes as Jake begins to talk.

“If she wins, and she won’t, Amy gets my car for the weekend so she can attend a boring lecture on fonts-“

“It is a seminar about different ways to organize.” She turns to Holt and tries her best teacher’s pet smile. “And it’s very educational, sir-“

“And if I win, which I will, Amy has to go on the worst date of her freaking life with me.”

“Oh.” Holt furrows his eyebrows. Amy squirms in her seat.

“I promise you, sir, that I would not being doing this if it was not about the educational prospect that I would getting-“

“Please stop talking.” Jake interrupts and Amy frowns at him. “And we all know you’re actually doing this because you’re so obviously in love with me.” Amy scoffs, forgetting all about Holt.

“Yes, I cannot live without you, Jake.” She says dramatically. “You are the only reason I breathe and live. I _so_ love guys who are so unhealthy they can’t climb _two_ flights of stairs-“

“Well, you dated Teddy, so that’s saying something.”

“Should I bring up, that weird Rossi girl and that date to the cemetery?” she says

“I told you that in confidence!” Jake hisses lowly.

“Enough!” Holt booms. Amy jumps in her seat. “Detention is over. Please leave my classroom before you begin any sort of brawl.”

The two of them stand, although Amy is walking a little more wilted than the relieved Jake and she turns to Holt, ready to speak, when Holt shakes his head. She nods and drags her feet outside.

“This is all your fault.” Amy says when they’re outside of the classroom. She punches him on the arm and he hisses, rubbing it.

“I was not the one who threw Boyle’s stew at me.”

“You started it!” she replies. “Now Holt thinks that I’m immature and now he’s never going to give me my recommendation letter to Major Magnet School.”

“I thought you were kicked out because you set the gym on fire.”

“Not out of Major.” She says with a head shake. “And, by the way, I don’t understand why I was even kicked out. I did nothing wrong.” Amy retorts as they walk out of the school.

“I think it’s the fact that you set the whole gym on fire.” 

“Whatever.” They stop at the parking lot, pausing before they go their separate ways: Jake to his mother’s car and Amy to the subway. Jake’s mom, the school art teacher, waves at Amy from the car and Amy waves back. Amy had 3rd period with her and loved talking art with her. Karen’s major in college was Art-History, the major that Amy was considering as well. Amy loved her class.

She also secretly wondered how Jake could’ve come from someone as wonderful as her.

Jake’s eyes roam over her face a little and he stuffs his hands into his jacket before he speaks.

“We can stop the bet, if you want.”

“Why? Do you want to?” Amy asks.

“No, I don’t. I just-I just don’t want you to get in trouble or, you know, jeopardize your whole future for some stupid bet.” He nearly mumbles and avoids her eyes, although his eyes do not stray from her face.

The air is a little heavy and Amy’s stomach is doing weird flips, a really strange feeling that she normally doesn’t associate with Jake. Her skin starts to itch at the look in his eyes so she does what Jake does best, which is, change the mood in an uncomfortable situation.

“Are you admitting defeat?” Amy asks, her eyes playful and Jake scoffs, more comfortable now that that thick cloud of uncomfortableness no longer lingers.

“You wish. I’m giving you a way out because I know how much you need it. I mean, you got an eighty in your last test! You’re going to fail.”

“You got a seventy.” She replies with an eye roll. “And, you wish.”

Jake smiles. Amy finds herself smiling back.

“See you tomorrow."

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a study date and another bet

The world stops the next day when Amy gets her weekly test back. There, in the corner, sits a taunting 80, so close to the 70 range. 

“Oh, no.” she mutters and Jake turns over to her. 

“Oooh, poor Amy.” he says in mock sincerity. “Tell me, what do you have a hankering for more: azerbaijan food or maybe some good old fashioned stuffed pig snouts? Because I know the places to both.”

“No, you tell me. What air freshener do you think sounds like it smells better: daffodil daydream or crackling firewood?” she asks with raised eyebrows.

Jake narrows her eyes, she narrows hers as well.

“Congratulations to Mr. Peralta. Who did very good in the quiz. He was one of the highest grades in the class.” Holt says, breaking them both out of their staring contest. 

“Thanks.” Jake grins. “Once I realized that the story isn’t written in Latin and is actually a cool action story, I was totally in.”

“It is also the greatest love story of our time.” Holt says, no inflection in his voice.

“Eh, that, too. I guess.”

Amy huffs next to him, arms crossed.

“I can tutor you, you know?” he says a little while later. Amy’s head flips at that, her eyebrows raised.

“What?” she sounds offended and that’s because she is. Nobody has ever asked to tutor _her_. She secretly wonders if this was just some kind of bad dream she had yet to wake up from.

“Yeah.” he shrugs and points to his 93. “I can teach you my ways.”

“No thanks.” she says and turns away, head held high because dammit there is no other way that this is happening. Jake grins at her from his seat next to her. Amy tries to tune out his annoying grin as he watches Holt lead the lesson. 

After fifteen seconds of him boring holes into the corner of her face, she turns and raises her eyebrows.

“Can you stop?”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re smiling.”

“Wow, I didn’t know we lived in a dictatorship, Amy.”

“I’m not saying-”

“Peralta. Santiago. Please pay attention to the lesson.” Holt booms from the front. Amy turns to Holt, nods and covers her face in shame.

Jake grins beside her.

After class, she hangs back to talk to Holt. 

“Mr.Holt?” she asks and he looks up from his desk. 

“Yes?”

“I-” she pauses, unable to word her question.

“You want to know why you got such a low grade in your quiz.”

“Well-”

Holt grabs the quiz from Amy’s hand and points to the second question.

“You didn’t identify the correct themes, Miss Santiago.”

“Oh, no.” she mutters hoarsely, eyebrows furrowing because Holt is right. That is not one of the main themes. Her mouth gapes as she tries to think of something to say back. “Sir, I-” she stops.

Holt watches from his desk and Amy clears her throat.

“Will that be all, Miss Santiago?”

“Mhm.” she nods and turns and leaves before she does something equally embarrassing.

She walks to her locker in a daze and switches out her books in a robotic moment. She still can’t believe that she got that theme wrong; she’s known Romeo and Juliet since she was five. 

Then she makes a decision. A probably horrible one really. 

She walks to the cafeteria and seeks him out. She walks straight to his table.

“Okay, fine.” She states. Jake looks up from his lunch, which mainly consists of chicken fingers, a piece of cake and that gross Jell-O nobody really eats. “I’ll study with you but let me make it clear that you are not tutoring me.”

Jake looks surprised for a second and then smug. Amy begins regretting everything immediately. “Well, well, well, how the tables have turned.”

“Nothing has turned.” She retorts a little too loud. She composes herself. “I am merely just, uh, _agreeing_ to an invitation for a tutoring session.”

“ _Well_ , I was the one who got a higher grade. So, technically I _will_ tutoring you.”

“Never mind.” she says. “This was a horrible idea.” she turns and begins to leave, already dreading Holt’s class the next day. Jake will no doubt make fun of her until the end of next year.

“Wait, Amy!” he calls. Amy continues walking and hears the tell-tale sign of Jake’s chair scraping the floor as he runs over to her. He stands in front of her, holding his hands in front of his body as he stops her from moving. She raises an eyebrow. “Okay, sorry, sorry. I take it back, Ames. I’m sorry.” Amy stays silent. “You’re not running back or anything, you’re just asking your totally cool friend to study with you.”

“Nope, not it.” she says and tries to get around him. He grabs onto her arm.

“Fine.” he breathes in deeply and gets that goofy look on his face that he makes when he’s about to make some sort of joke. Amy already anticipates it but doesn’t anticipate what he actually does. He lets go of her arm and kneels down in front of her. Amy watches with wide eyes. “Amy Santiago, queen of 99, will you study with me?” Several people from different tables look their way and Amy’s ears heat up, meaning that in less than thirty seconds her whole face is going to be tomato red.

“O- _kaaaay_. Get up. This is ridiculous.” she grabs onto his arm and gets him back on two feet. He grins at her with that soft, ridiculous smile. He always managed to do that. Annoy her to no end and then make her smile within a minute afterwards. 

It was infuriating.

“So?”

“Meet me at the second library study room.” she says as a confirmation and Jake whispers, “Yes!”. “Bring your English book and your Romeo and Juliet book, too.”

“Sounds good.” he says. “Now, will your highness join Boyle and I for lunch? I promise that the unappetizing smell of his lunch gets better with time.”

“It’s blood stew and it’s considered a delicacy in Europe.” Boyle pipes up.

“Doesn’t make it a delicacy here.” Jake states and raises his eyebrows at Amy, awaiting an answer. 

“As appetizing as that sounds,” she says sarcastically. “I can’t. I have a debate club meeting.”

“Oh, well. I’m sure there will be other opportunities to try Boyle’s blood stew.” 

Amy playfully rolls her eyes and leaves.

“What was that about?” Boyle asks, watching as Jake’s eyes remain on Amy’s retreating figure.

“What was what about?” Jake asks, sitting back down. He avoids looking at Boyle, knowing very well that his high insinuating voice is going to make an appearance. Boyle had this very strange thought about him liking Amy, which Jake thought was just ridiculous. 

Because he did not like Amy. 

Boyle, unfortunately, didn’t believe him. He had actually been climbing up that “You like Amy” tree for months now. 

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” Boyle points at Jake with his spoon. “You and Amy had some sort of moment.”

“A moment?” Jake scoffs. “There was no moment, Boyle.”

“You gotta admit, there’s a spark.”

“There is no spark. If anything, there’s a wet pile of, I don’t know, wood that would never light on fire.” Boyle’s eyebrows remain up. “The point is that I do not like Amy.”

“I’m just saying, Jake. You asked her out.”

“When did I do that? Never,ever,ever,ever-”

“The day of the bet. You asked her out on a date.” he says. “And you just got on your knees and asked her to study with you.”

“We were playing around. We’re friends. That’s what we do.” he argues. 

“Friends don’t go on dates with one another and Amy has to go on one with you if she loses that bet.”

“That’s different.” he says. 

“How, so?” Jake pauses for a moment. He shakes his head.

“I think you’ve been reading way too many of your dad’s romance novels, Boyle.”

“That’s what i’m trying to say, Jake. You and Amy belong in a romance novel. You would be holding her like a valiant prince and she would be swooning.”

“I think that blood stew is making you delirious.” Jake says, trying to refract from the subject at hand. "Maybe you should stop eating it."

“Think about it, Jake. You’re going through a lot to win this bet.” Boyle says.

“How?”

“You’re studying, for one. You never study. I think the last time you studied was for that Taylor Swift trivia contest.”

“Which I didn’t really need to study for. I got every single answer right.” He says, only slightly bragging. Boyle raises an eyebrow. “And I’m going studying with Amy because she asked _me_.”

“All I’m saying is that there’s no reason for you to do this whole thing.I know you were crushed when she started dating Teddy and now that she’s single, you want to ask her out but don’t want to mess it up. You should just sit down and have a conversation with her.”

“Nope. You’re wrong.” Jake says stubbornly.

“Come on, Jake. I was there the day the bet was made and know for a fact that there was no real reason for you to elevate the bet the way that you did. Except, you did and you kind of asked Amy out.”

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Jake says and stands, “I’m going to go eat lunch with Terry.”

“I think the lady doth protest too much.” Boyle says in his high insinuating voice.

“Please stop quoting Picasso.”

“That wasn’t-Never mind. Jake.” Boyle sighs. “Just think about it, Jake.”

After that, he loses his appetite and throws away his plate. He walks around for the last half hour of lunch and thinks about what Boyle said, about him liking Amy. 

Truth be told, he didn’t really know why he highered the bet the way he did. It was just kind of the first thing that popped in his brain. He knows that he told her that she _had_ to say yes but he didn’t really think she would. He figured that she’d knock him in the shoulder or something.

He shakes his head. Nope. Boyle’s love for uncooked meat is making him a little cooky, because there’s no way in hell he’s right.

-

“How’s the bet?” Rosa asks Amy as they make their way to their Algebra class. 

Amy shrugs. “Good, I guess.”

“So, you two aren’t mad at each others for what happened yesterday?”

“Nope. We’re actually studying together after school.” Rosa raises her eyebrows at that. “What?”

“So, you basically have a study date with Jake?”

“No. I mean, I wouldn’t call it that.” she says slowly. 

“That’s what I would call it.”

“It’s not a date.” she says with a head shake.

“Who’s dating?” Gina asks as she sidles next to them. 

“Nobody.” Amy says before Rosa says anything. She knows that Gina will probably make a bigger deal out of it than it really is.

“Jake and Amy, remember?” Amy glares at Rosa, whose lips quirk into a smile.

“Oh, the infamous bet and the date that is surely to come.”

“Nobody is dating.” Amy says with a head shake. “There’s still two months let of the bet.”

“Whatever.” Gina says with a flick of her hand. “If you lose Ames, can I get your brother Leo’s number?”

“For the last time, you are not dating any of my brothers.”

“Why not?” she asks. “You’re about to date Jake, who is like a brother to me. I can share and yet you can’t? How selfish.”

“I’m not dating Jake.” she says firmly. “It’s one horrible date and that’s it. We are not going to be dating or do anything resembling dating.”

“Oh, well.” Gina replies with a shrug. “It makes sense, I guess. Amy is no Rihanna, I mean, she’s hardly a Ciara. Jake deserves at the very least, an Alicia Keys.”

“Thanks?” Amy replies in confusion.

“Oh, Ames, that wasn’t a compliment.” Gina croons in fake sympathy. 

“Well, all I’m saying is that I really hope things aren’t weird between you and Jake afterwards. If that does happen, then I’m gonna have to punch you losers and I don’t really want to do that.”

They arrive at class and the girls take their seats. 

“How about you and I settle a little bet of our own?” Gina asks Rosa.

“I’m not going on a date with you.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Rosa; we both know you would be unable to handle me.” Gina says with an eye roll. “No, I think we should bet on how this disaster is going to end.”

“Are you guys seriously betting on Jake and I?” Amy asks but goes unheard.

“What do you have in mind?”

“You know that I am somewhat psychic and honestly-“

“Gina.” Rosa raises an eyebrow.

“Fine.” Gina states. “I think that this ultimate trainwreck is going to end with at least one love confession and maybe some action between the sheets.”

“You think Jake and Amy will sleep together?” 

“Oh, definitely.”

“Uhm, no!” Amy intercepts. “Not going to happen.”

“Please you could light a forest with that disgusting sexual tension between you two.” Gina adds.

“I disagree.” Rosa argues. “Amy’s head would explode if she sleeps with someone she has to see everyday.”

“ _Your_ head would explode!” she adds lamely but the girls don’t hear her. Or maybe they just plain don’t listen.

“So, you on?” Gina asks. Rosa thinks it over for a second and then nods. “Good. So, if I win, and Jake and Amy form the beast with two backs, I get your motorcycle.”

“Nope. One ride.” 

“Fine.” Gina rolls her eyes. “And if you win, you get-”

“A new ax. My old one has blood on it.”

“Okay. Sounds like a deal.” They shake hands.

“Don’t I get any say in this?” Amy asks.

“Not really.” Gina shrugs.

“Keep it in your pants, Santiago. I need a new ax.”

-

It takes Jake thirty minutes to find the right classroom. He gets lost three times in the library, not even knowing that there’s more than one floor. Much less, that there’s actual study rooms. She’s waiting for him when he finally finds the room, all of her books stretched out before her.

“You’re late.” she says as a greeting.

“And you’re well prepared.” He says and sets his backpack down on the floor. He’s kind of impressed by how well prepared she is but, of course, this is Amy’s he’s talking about. She’s been ready for anything since the womb. The only thing he brought was a chewed up pencil and a semi-blank notebook.

He feels inadequate.

“One of us has to be.” She states and she isn’t wrong. She watches as he brings out his notebook from his backpack. “Is that your English notebook?”

“No. This is my all classes notebook.” he says and Amy cocks her head.

“Jake, you only have one notebook?”

“Uh, yeah.” He says with a shrug.

“Let me get this right. You have three notebooks dedicated to Taylor Swift quotes but only have one notebook for school?”

“Am I supposed to be ashamed?”

Amy sighs. “Let’s begin.”

They go over Amy’s terribly dog-eared copy of Romeo and Juliet, not Jake’s barely opened Romeo and Juliet version. 

“Have you even read it?” she asks.

“I read the simplified version.” 

“Wait. That’s cheating.” she begins to get excited, the taste of sweet victory in her mouth.

“Nope.” he shakes his head. “That’s called being smart. The quiz was about the different themes, which the simplified version also includes.” Amy deflates. “Bet is still on.”

It’s three hours later that they cease their studying. Amy’s more than sure that she can go for another hour and a half but Jake’s already nearly falling asleep and she relents. They walk out of the school together.

“Where’s your mom?” 

“She left. I brought my car.” he jingles his car keys. “Want a ride home?”

Amy goes over it in her head. The subway, which is no doubt filled with drunk people or riding with Jake, who drives like he’s on Grand Theft Auto. It’s a very difficult decision.

”I’ll buy you a burger.” He sing-songs and Amy sighs, nodding because her stomach is rumbling. 

Amy has to sweep off so much trash from the passenger seat as she gets on and remembering the four times and a half, uses her jacket to shield her from the seats.

“Why does your car smell like old cheese?” she asks as she’s buckling her seatbelt. 

“First of all, that is very hurtful, Amy. And second of all, I think it’s because there’s a lost grilled cheese sandwich somewhere.” Amy scrunches nose in disgust.

Jake is a slightly better driver than she’s remembered and doesn’t crash the car. Almost. After the third brake-slam, she closes her eyes and only opens them when they’re parked in the burger place. 

When she opens them, Jake’s watching her with wide eyes. 

“Are you okay?” he asks and his voice is soft. Amy clears her throat, trying to find her voice.

“No big deal, you just almost killed me six times.” she says sarcastically and Jake begins to crack a grin, knowing she’s alright.

They park in an abandoned parking lot and eat burgers in the hood of his car, throwing fries into eachother’s mouths.

After the food is gone, they sit and just talk, neither wanting to move. 

“Wanna play twenty questions, Amy?” He asks.

“Sure.” she replies, knowing that he’ll never stop asking until she relents.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” he asks her.

“Grow up? What are we, six?”

“Come on, Amy. Humor me.” 

She rolls her eyes. “Fine.” She sighs. “I don’t know, I mean, I’ve always known that I wanted to do law enforcement. Become a cop, like my dad. But I really like art history, so I don’t know.” she pauses. Jake watches her silently, his eyes as wide as the moon as she pulls on a loose thread on her jacket. “I’ve always had this crazy dream of, I don’t know, becoming a police captain.” she turns to him and swallows at the dark look in his eyes. “It’s kind of a pipe dream, I know but you know.” she shrugs. “It’s always nice to dream.”

“I don’t think it’s that crazy. It’s your dream and you’re kind of one of the most hardcore persons I know and I mean that in a good way.” he says, a little bashful, not the brash Jake from a few moments ago. Amy’s a little amazed. “I think you’ll definitely achieve it.”

“Thanks.” she says sincerely, her heart a little warm. “And you? What do you want to be?”

He groans. “Mine really _is_ crazy. You’re gonna think I’m insane.”

“Oooh! Tell me!” 

“Nah. I think I should drive you home.”

“Come on, Jake!” she pleads, grabbing onto his arm, grinning widely. Jake meets her eyes and then looks down at his arm in her clasped hand and she lets it go awkwardly. She clears her throat. “I told you mine so now you have to tell me yours.”

“Fine.” he groans. “I’ve always wanted like a John McClane life, you know?” he meets her eyes. “That whole crazy-”

“Wait, who is that?”

“From Die Hard.” Amy’s face remains blank. ”No, Amy. Please tell me that you’ve seen Die Hard.”

“I-“ she shakes her head and Jake’s face almost turns grief stricken.

“Wow, I can’t believe I’m friends with you.” He shakes his head in bewilderment. “I mean, you’ve seriously never seen Die Hard?”

“Never.”

“And you have seven brothers, right?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“One of them has to be a Die Hard fan, right?” he says. “I mean, your dad’s a cop. He must’ve instilled that love for cop movies into them.”

“Actually, my dad’s favorite movie is Terminator.”

“Oh, my god.” He covers his face in shock. “That’s not even a cop movie. I’m-wow.” Amy can’t help herself and laughs. Jake peers at her from behind his hand. “Yeah, go ahead. Laugh at my misery.”

“You’ve got to admit that it’s funny.”

“More like heartbreaking, Amy.” he narrows his eyes. “What’s _your_ favorite cop movie?”

“Training day.” She says. Jake sighs in relief.

“Okay, so it’s no Die Hard but at least you’re not terribly lame.” Amy rolls her eyes at that.

“Anyway, what does this John guy do?”

“He is only the best cop around.” He states, lowering his hands. His eyes light up with an enthusiasm Amy’s never seen before. “Wait, I have to start at the beginning. Okay, so John is a retired cop and he’s-“

“No, Jake.” She whines. “I don’t want to listen to a summary. Just tell me how it ties into what you want to be.”

“But Amy you need to know the backstory to get the-.” At Amy’s look, he sighs. “Fine. I won’t tell you the story but I _am_ going to show you Die Hard one of these days.”

“Yeah, sure.” she rolls her eyes.

“Okay, so I want to be a cop, basically. Like, you. Except, a less nerdy version.”

“I want to be a captain and that’s not nerdy.” She retorts. “And I’d be your boss, by the way.” she shrugs. “Is your dad a cop, too?”

“Nope. Dad’s a pilot.” He looks lost for a second, his eyes thoughtful and far away. Amy’d heard the story his missing dad, who hadn’t? She feels terribly bad for bringing it up and tries to change the subject.

“Okay. Next question. Who is your celebrity crush?”

Jake snaps out of his daydream and Amy relaxes as the uneasiness of the air goes away.

“Male or female?”

(It’s not the worst of Amy’s nights.)

He pulls up to her apartment building, turning the car off. 

“Want me to walk you?”

“No. Stay in the car.” she says firmly.

“Oh, come on. Ashamed to introduce me to your family, Amy?”

“All my seven brothers are home.”

He pauses and hooks his seatbelt on again. “Yeah, never mind.” Amy rolls her eyes.

The truth is that the only brother home is Fern but he’s like three of her worst brothers combined. 

“All right.” He says as Amy begins to grab her stuff. “See ya, buddy.”

“Buddy?”

“I don’t know how to act.” He mutters, glancing at Amy’s apartment building, despite the fact that they live in the fifth floor.

Amy rolls her eyes. “Bye.”

-

It’s two hours later that he sends her a text, a picture of his busted old Die Hard DVD, the caption reading “one of these days”. Amy grins at it.

As Amy gets ready for bed, she has one last thought, a thought that makes her entire body blush red.

If the horrible, bad date was anything like the night they just shared, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my new fave thing? taking conversations or quotes from canon and seeing where they fit in AUs  
> i have another fragment, this time it's an edna st vincent. millay sonnet.  
> " _I might be driven to sell your love for peace,_  
>  Or trade the memory of this night for food.  
> It well may be. I do not think I would."


	3. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bitter night and a revelation.

For the most part, their study dates continue as they do for the rest of the week. He even buys one notebook for English class, which Amy insists is not solely for English since it was already halfway filled with Taylor lyrics.

One day, he really surprises her when he asks, “What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?”

“Huh? Nothing.” She says with a shake of her head, despite the fact that she does have plans, sort of. Her plans consist of finally watching that Neil DeGrasse Tyson documentary that’s been digging a hole in her DVR for the last month but she’s not going to tell Jake that.

“Really? Not even tea time with your cats?”

“I don’t have cats, Jake.” Amy says, now kind of annoyed. “Anyway, why do you care what I have to do on Valentine’s Day?”

“Jeez. I don’t.” He holds his hands up in mock surrender, widening his eyes a little. “I’m just saying since you aren’t dating Teddy anymore, you might be lonely for Valentine’s Day. Gina is holding a Valentine’s Day party and I thought you might want to go.”

“Gina already invited me and I’ll tell you what I told her: No, thanks.” She replies as she puts her backpack back on. To be honest, a night of debauchery and unauthorized alcohol consumption is not really her cup of tea. She’s gone to parties before but forced, like Hitchcock’s party, which Rosa practically dragged her to.

Jake opens his mouth to retort but then he closes it and nods.

“Okay, cool. Just know you’re gonna miss out.” he says quickly, slinging his still-open backpack over his shoulder, old tests and rancid bags of chips peeking hello from within. “Bye, Ames.” He says over his shoulder and then he’s gone, the door swinging after him.

Amy’s left wondering what the hell that was.

-

That Saturday night, Valentine’s Day, Amy watches from her parents’ bed as her mother gets ready for dinner with her dad.

“Are you not doing anything tonight, Amy?” her mother asks as she caps her lipstick.

“Nope.” She pauses. “I mean, there was a Valentine’s Party but-“she stops and shrugs, figuring the rest can go unsaid.

“Ooh. Sounds fun.” Her mother says. “You’re not going to go?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Parties aren’t really my thing, mom.”

Her mother watches her from the reflection in the mirror for a moment. “Who’s throwing the party?”

“Gina.”

“Oh, I love her. She’s a barrel of laughs.” Her mother turns to her. “You should go and you should wear that dress I got you for your birthday.”

Amy scrunches up her nose. The dress her mother was talking about was red, short and very flimsy but it was also very beautiful. Her mother notices the look on her face.

“Well, either way, if you go or stay, I hope you have fun. And if you drink, make sure nobody drives you home. Stay at Gina’s or take a taxi with a friend.” Her mother warns with a raised eyebrow. Amy rolls her eyes. Her mother’s face relaxes into a soft smile. “You’re only young once and life is too short to be worried about mistakes. Have fun, Corazon. I’ll see you when I come home.” She kisses Amy’s cheek, leaving a red imprint and a cloud of perfume in her trail.

Amy thinks it over because her mother’s right, she’s only young once and maybe the reason she doesn’t really like parties is because she doesn’t go to many. Maybe if she went to more, she would find them more interesting and fun.

That’s how, thirty minutes later, she finds herself out of Gina’s door, pulling her red dress down. She re-checks her hair in the reflection of her phone and is happy to find out the snow didn’t melt the curls in her hair. She hesitates for a moment, listening to the loud music from within the apartment but breathes in deeply and presses the button before she can stop herself.

Gina opens the door and her eyes widen as she takes Amy in, from her curly hair to the bright cherry dress she’s adorned in.

“Amy? Oh, my god.” She grabs onto her hand and whisks her into the apartment before Amy can say or do anything, closing the door tightly after her. “I cannot believe you’re here. And here I thought you were too lame to do anything at all. But here you are, dressed in the most passionate of colors and maybe I’ve underestimated you all along-“

Amy’s still a little frazzled, eyes darting over the whole room, taking in her most likely drunk classmates. Meanwhile, Gina is still yapping about her outfit. Amy forces herself to concentrate and focuses back on Gina.

“There’s a lot of people here.” She says dumbly, the back of her knees starting to sweat.

“Duh.” Gina says with an eye roll. “Every party of mine is a filled to the brim with people and drama. I am certain that there will be five fights before the night is over.”

“Won’t your mom get mad?”

“No, she’s out with her new boyfriend, some loser I have yet to meet.” Gina shrugs.

Rosa raises her eyebrows when she spots her and makes her way over. Rosa’s dressed in all black, although a little red flashing heart is pinned on her leather jacket, no doubt put there by Gina.

“Nice dress, Amy.”

“Thanks.” Amy replies and stops pulling it down, a little confident in it now.

“You trying to get laid?” Rosa asks and that brief moment of confidence is gone.

For the most part, Amy drifts around the party, not really finding anyone to talk to. She tries, and fails, to make connections with other peers and instead, hides out in the kitchen for most of the night, making sure that at the very least, Gina’s mom’s table isn’t broken. Halfway through, someone knocks on her shoulder, making her spill most of her drink, she turns, glare ready and meets Jake’s eyes.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” he asks, crossing his arms, cocky smirk already in place.

“Jake.” Amy says in greeting, straightening her back.

“I thought you had a cat tea party to attend, what are you doing here?”

“I told you that I don’t have any cats.” She replies, blotting her wet dress with a pink napkin.

“Hey, Jakey. I’m sad to inform you that they don’t have any pita bread here, despite me begging Gina-Oh, hey, Amy!” Boyle says as he sidles on next to Jake. He grins widely and waves.

“Hey, Charles.” Amy replies and continues blotting, but no use, the stain is not going to take off without her taking it to the dry cleaners.

“Nice dress.”

“Thanks.” Amy tosses the napkin in the trash, giving up.

“Wow, I still can’t believe that you decided to come; knowing you, there’s probably some really sad documentary waiting for you in your DVR.”

Amy eye twitches because there is and honestly, she’d rather be doing that than this but she doesn’t tell Jake that. Instead she doesn’t say anything and just rolls her eyes and makes her way out of the kitchen.

Jake plops down next to her hours later, when she’s sitting on the sofa, watching Rosa annihilate everyone at beer pong. She glances at him from the corner of her eye and he looks mildly upset, his head resting on his balled up fist. She deliberates asking him what’s wrong but decides against it. He’s been nothing but a pain in her side all night long.

First, he got her dress dirty and then when some girl from another school thought they were dating, he called her ‘lover’ for a whole half hour, until she kicked him in the shin.

“You’re not even going to ask me what’s wrong?” he mutters after a few moments. Amy sighs because of course. “Fine.” Jake says dramatically. “If you’re not going to ask me , then I guess I’ll explain it myself.” Amy doesn’t look away from Rosa. “Do you know that Bernice girl from our English class?”

“The blonde one?” Amy asks, because, okay, she’ll bite. She’s slightly curious and there’s only so much beer-pong you can watch before your brain starts to melt.

“Uhm, the one obsessed with Die Hard.” He says in a ‘ _duh’_ tone.

“Why would I know that?”

“Oh, I forget you haven’t watched any of the Die Hard movies.” He sighs dramatically again. “Anyway, she was supposed to come today but she totally ditched me.”

“Oh, wow. Bummer.” Amy says flatly.

“It _is_ a bummer, Amy.” he sighs dramatically. “Anyway, now I’m totally lonely on Valentine’s and, well, here you are so you want to share a cab?”

Amy rolls her eyes, a little offended but happy for the opportunity to flee. The party was not was she thought it was going to be and honestly, her hypothesis was wrong. It’s not that she doesn’t go to enough parties, it’s that there’s nothing connecting her with her other students. Everybody is loud and drunk and the only person she’d been able to hang out with was Jake, and he ruined her dress and spiked all of the punch, making it undrinkable for her.

So, she was dirty _and_ thirsty.

All his fault.

“Okay.” She says with a sigh and stands. Jake stands, too.

“Cool, lemme tell Charles. Not to brag for the little guy, but I think he’s going to get so fuc-“

“Ew. Please don’t finish that sentence!”

“It’s the twentieth century, Amy. People have sex!”

“Actually, it’s the twenty-first.” She corrects, unable to help herself. He raises an eyebrow and Amy rolls her eyes. “Go look for Boyle. I’m going to go tell Gina and Rosa I’m leaving.”

“I’ll be right back.” He turns on his heel, seeking out Boyle in the crowd of adolescents. Amy finds Rosa, who finished beer-ponging is now with Gina.

“Hey, I’m leaving.” She states.

“Oh, want me to take you home?” Rosa asks.

“Nah. I’m sharing a cab with someone.” Amy remembers their last talk during class and really doesn’t want to tell them that the person she’s sharing the cab with is Jake.

“With whom? Hitchcock?” Gina asks, her words a little slurred together. Amy’s a little impressed, she saw how many shots she cleared.

“No. Someone else. From class.” She states hurriedly, hoping to leave before Jake appears. Gina and Rosa share a look and then they’re both smirking at her.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Amy.”

“Yeah, people have sex all the time.” Gina adds.

“Wait? What? Oh, my God! No!” She shakes her head as the unstoppable mental picture comes to mind. “No, it’s just we live kinda close to one another and sharing a cab is way cheaper.”

She thinks she’s convinced them but as Jake sidles on next to her and purrs in a fake low voice, “Hello, lover”, it all flies out window.

“Shut up, Jake.” She hisses and Gina and Rosa share a look.

“Well, I couldn’t find Boyle but I did find this box of candy grams; want one?” he shakes the box close to her ear and Amy leans away, already getting a headache.

“No, thanks.” He shrugs and tosses half the box into his mouth, the candies crunching in his mouth loudly.

“So, you two sharing a cab, huh?” Rosa asks, smirking.

“Yeah.” Jake replies. “We should get going, by the way.”

“Yeah, we should.” Amy replies. Jake holds one arm to her, which Amy ignores as she turns on her heel and nearly barrels towards the door. “Bye, Gina, Rosa.”

“Bye.” The two of them call out, their voices filled with insinuations. Amy’s already dreading math class.

-

The whole taxi ride to Jake’s apartment, he talks with the driver about being heartbroken over Bernice and the driver about his wife leaving him for his brother. Amy watches the city lights from the window, the slight headache she had now becoming a full-blown storm.

“Amy’s heartbroken, too. Her boyfriend Teddy dumped her like two months ago.” Jake says when they’re about halfway to his apartment.

“He didn’t dump me. I dumped him.” She says back automatically, massaging her temples. Jake raises his eyebrows and leans back to talk to her.

“Oh, really? Why?” He asks, very curious and Amy’s hit by what she had said. After the news broke about her and Teddy breaking up, nobody but Gina questioned her about it and Amy, having watched many hours of Scandal knew how ugly things could get once they broke out, so she would always just state “It was an amicable breakup.”

When it was all but that.

(Teddy was a huge crier and she had those thirty voicemails to prove it.)

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Um, I think it does.”

“Yeah, you don’t dump someone for no reason, there has to be one.” The driver adds from the front and Amy glares at him.

“Well, there is no reason for this instance so…” she trails off.

“No, Amy.” Jake insists. “Patrick is right, there has to be reason for your breakup with the Tedster.”

“Drop it, Jake.” She replies and she cringes for making her voice too harsh but her hands are starting to sweat and honestly, this whole conversation is not one she wants to have with a slightly tipsy Jake and their cab driver. Jake stares at her for a second and then nods.

The cab’s quiet for a second, even the radio, until the cab driver speaks again.

“So, this Bernice, she has seen _all_ the Die Hard films?”

“Oh, yeah. And she knows _all_ the lines.”

Amy just sighs.

-

When they arrive to Jake’s apartment, he pats on her the head once and then says, “Goodnight, Amy.”

He’s inside his building when she notices his phone sitting on the seat. She sighs. “Sir, he left his phone. Mind if I go drop it off?”

Patrick, the driver, just grunts.

The elevator is broken so Amy has to climb the five flights by herself. When she gets to his apartment, she knocks on his door and it takes a while before anyone opens it and when it does get opened, it’s Jake and he doesn’t look so good. In fact, he looks annoyed.

Amy regrets not leaving his phone at his door step.

“Amy.” he replies in surprise.

“Hey, your phone-“she begins and stops as a man looms over Jake’s shoulder. She knows who that is, of course she does and she’s unsure of how to act or even what to say. Jake stiffens when he sees the look on her face and takes the phone from her hand.

“Thank you.” He says and Amy nods, getting ready to turn because this seems like the part of a book she’s not supposed to read and it’s making her insides do weird things.

“You’re not going to introduce me, son?” the man asks. Jake grits his teeth.

“ _Sure_. This is Amy, she’s my-“

“Girlfriend.” His dad finishes for him.

“No, she’s my classmate.” Jake glares at him over his shoulder, the phone clasped in his fist. Jake turns to Amy with a much softer look. “Amy, this is my dad.”

Amy nods in greeting and then says, “Nice to meet you, sir.”

“You know, I dated a girl that looked like you back in the day. Are you by any chance related to Petra Rodriguez?”

Amy shakes her head. “No, sir.”

“Hmm.” Jake’s dad says and notices her dress. “Were you two at the same party?”

“I think Amy wants to go back to her cab. The drivers probably going to leave without her.” Amy sends Jake a million thanks and mentally tells him that she’ll buy and watch Die Hard that same weekend. Maybe even write a ten page review on it, just for fun.

“Eh, the cab can wait. Now are you sure that you two aren’t dating? Because when I was a kid I would do the same thing, tell my folks that I wasn’t dating a girl just so that they’d let me sneak her into my room and-“

“Oh, my god.” Amy mutters, her whole body starting to redden like a tomato. Jake sends her an apologetic look and then turns and glares at his dad.

“Okay, you need to stop.” Jake says harshly.

Karen appears then, no doubt hearing the commotion.

“Well, hello, Amy.” And if she somehow doesn’t notice the look of pure anger in Jake’s face and the uncomfortable one on Amy’s face, it’s a pure miracle.

“Mrs. Peralta.” she replies quietly.

“Did you know that Jake here has a girlfriend?” Jake’s dad interrupts. Karen raises her eyebrows at Jake and Amy.

Jake scoffs.

“And I’ve already said that Amy and I aren’t dating but you don’t listen, do you?” Jake says harshly. “Like when I told you to stay away from us years ago but yet, here you are again like some annoying pest that doesn’t go away.”

“Jacob.” Karen warns, drawing eyes towards Amy.

Amy just wishes the Earth would swallow her up whole.

“What? I’m right, mom.” He begins. “Everything is better when he’s out of our lives.”

“Now you don’t mean that, son.” Jake’s dad says.

“Jake.” Karen begins, reaching out to him and he shies away from her. This is definitely a chapter that Amy feels she shouldn’t be reading.

“You know what? I should go.” She says, already turning on her heel.

“No, wait, Amy.” Jake calls out and Amy stops, dreading what’s to come. “Is the cab still here?”

“God, I hope so.” Amy says. If it isn’t, Amy’s just going to run home. She doesn’t really care anymore, she just wants the night to be over.

“Perfect.” And then he turns towards his parents. “Mom, I’ll call you from Boyle’s and I’ll be back in the morning.” He turns to his dad. “You, I hope you’re not here when I get back in the morning. Wait, who am I kidding? You won’t be.”

Then he leaves the apartment.

Amy awkwardly curtsies, chuckling dryly. Jake’s parents just stare at her.

“Goodnight.” She says meekly and then she follows after Jake.

For the first three flights down, they’re quiet but on the fourth he stops her.

“I’m not really staying at Boyle’s tonight. Can I stay at yours? I promise I won’t do anything funny. I-I just can’t stay here. Or at Gina’s. Her mom and my mom are like best friends and I know she’s gonna ask a lot of questions and I-ugh. Can I, please?”

Amy doesn’t know what it is that makes her say the next thing. Perhaps it’s the look of despair in his eyes or maybe it’s the fact that there’s a few hours left to Valentine’s Day and there’s a little bit of magic in the air. Or maybe it’s even her mother’s words of being young and making mistakes.

But she surprises herself when she says, “Yes.”

The relief in Jake’s eyes makes it all worth it.

-

Patrick is surprised by his return but notices the change in his demeanor and doesn’t push anything. Jake stares out the window halfway to her apartment and then he abruptly turns to her and says,

“When I came home he was already there. He was sitting at the couch, eating my chips like the place belonged to him. And then he has the gall to tell me he’s back with my mom? Why would she even take him back when he’s been gone for nearly six years from our life?”

Amy doesn’t know what to say or what to do, so she just stares at him and stays quiet. After a moment, Jake goes back to staring out the window and Amy does the same. Somehow, letting him stay and letting him rant doesn’t seem like enough so she slowly finds his hand in the dark and covers it with hers.

Her heartbeat rings in her ears but she doesn’t move her hand, no matter how loud it’s ringing in her ears. Jake turns to her in surprise but he doesn’t move, doesn’t breathe, as he anticipates her next move. She squeezes his hand once, twice, three times, trying to tell him everything that she’s unable to express with words.

_I’m sorry your dad’s such a dick. I’m sorry that it affects you like this. I’m sorry that you’re scared to turn out like him and I’m sorry I’m unable to put all of this into words._

She doesn’t need to look away from the window to know that he’s staring down at their hands.

Afterwards, she doesn’t move her hand, her thumb slowly circling the back of his hand quietly. Jake slowly begins to lace their fingers together and now it’s Amy’s turn to turn to him in surprise. She finds his eyes in the dark, slightly illuminated by the streetlights but she doesn’t stop him.

It scares her how much she really doesn’t want to stop him.

When they’re finally holding hands in a dark cab, in the middle of a very loud city, the turn away from one another and look out their respective windows. Amy presses her head tightly against the window, trying to drown out any treacherous thoughts.

“We’re here.” Patrick announces and the two jump, their hands untangling. They pay him and then they’re walking into her building.

It’s a little awkward as they ride the elevator and Amy starts to sweat a little at the thought of the night that’s about to come.

She’s glad the apartment is empty and Jake, who’s been quiet since the cab, follows her into her room. She hangs up her jacket just to give her something to do as Jake sits on her bed and his eyes dart around her room. It hits her how empty her whole room is and how silly the baby pink walls her mom insisted on look. Which is a stupid thing to worry about, she knows. When she turns to him after she’s done, he’s staring out the window with a quizzical look.

“What?” she asks. 

“Amy, you have a fire escape that leads directly to your room and you’ve never snuck anyone in?” and the weirdness between them melts. She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.

“How do you know I’ve never snuck anyone in?”

He just raises an eyebrow and Amy sighs. He’s right, she’s never snuck anyone in. if anything, the only person she’s snuck in are her brothers’ after they miss curfew.

“So, are we sharing this baby?” he asks, bouncing a little on her bed, making her pillows fall on the floor in a mess.

“Uh, no.” she says with a shake of her head and points to the little baby sofa that lies in the corner of her room, the one her cousins use when they stay the night. “That stretches out into a sofa bed. You will be sleeping there.”

“In that tiny-ass bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Amy, I am your guest.”

“Exactly.” She says and roots through her drawers for her pajamas. “Now, I’m gonna change in the restroom in the hall.” She tosses him some pajamas of her brothers’ that she keeps for when it’s colder. “You can use my restroom; it’s that door.”

When she gets back to the room, Jake’s sitting on the tiny bed, it’s kind of comical really and she wants to laugh but he looks thoughtful, serious again. She closes the door after her and takes off her contacts and puts on her glasses instead. She sits on her bed and brushes her hair as he remains thoughtful.

“I don’t want to talk about it, you know? I’m done talking about that man; he’s ruined enough things for me already and-“he stops. “Oh, my god. Amy, please tell me that you’re wearing those just for my amusement.”

“These are my glasses.” She says slowly and Jake guffaws.

“Oh, my, God.”

“If you’re gonna make me fun of me Jake, then you can leave right now.” She says, only half meaning it. She finishes brushing her hair and braids it back. Jake’s still staring at her and grinning.

“So, Amy, what do you do on nights like this? Play with your cats? Read an entire encyclopedia? Research on the constitution?”

“None of those things. I usually watch television.”

“Oh, that’s right. SpongeBob is on.” At her look, he grins. “Okay, you probably watch some lame documentary, right?”

“Documentaries are not lame, Jake. You learn a lot from them.”

Jake lays down on the bed, half of his legs hanging out. “Okay, enlighten me. Let’s watch one of your documentaries.” Amy pauses, wondering if he’s making fun of her but he raises his eyebrows so she grabs her remote and loads the documentary that she’s been meaning to watch.

“Okay, so this documentary is about Betelgeuse, the star-“

“Beetlejuice? Don’t say her name three times, Ames.”

“No, Jake. Betelgeuse! Not Beetlejuice.” She sighs and just presses play, figures that Neil is a better teacher than she is.

Jake actually likes it and only makes fun of it three times, and only mispronounces it as Beetlejuice once. Afterwards, she raises her eyebrows and says, “Told you documentaries could be fun.”

Jake just shrugs. “Amy, this is going to sound really weird but can I put my glasses on my-“

“Ugh. Goodnight, Jake.” She says and turns off her bedside lamp off, the others turned off by Jake before. She sets her glasses on her bedside table, the one away from Jake, and covers herself with her blanket. 

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” he asks abruptly. Amy rolls her eyes.

“Go to sleep, Jake.” She awaits for him to make some smart-alecky comment but she only hears the rustle of his borrowed Disney Princess blanket. She rolls over and meets his thoughtful eyes. “Fine. Ask.”

“Is there really no reason as to why you broke up with Teddy?”

Amy’s taken aback. She thought this conversation was done.

“What?”

“Yeah.” He sits up, face close to hers. “Amy swallows thickly and moves over slightly, just a little farther from Jake. “Why did you?”

Amy pauses, thinking of something to reply because, to be honest, she isn’t sure why she did. She wasn’t even sure why she agreed to date Teddy in the first place. He asked her out while he was still in the debate team and she had said yes because he was into all the stuff she was into.

It just kind of made sense and for months it did.

Until, one day it just didn’t.

“I don’t know.” She answers truthfully. Jake nods slowly, his face illuminated in the moonlight. The air sticks to her throat so she flops back onto her bed, giving Jake her back. “Goodnight, Jake.”

He’s quiet for a moment and then he says, “Want to know why I broke up with Sofia?”

She had heard the stories, they were all over the school. They all had to do with Jake, Sofia, and her dad sending her to boarding school in Spain.

But in the stories, Sofia had broken it off with him because she didn’t want a long distance relationship. Nobody even took Jake leaving her for consideration. Not even Amy.

Amy nods in the quiet and then says, “Sure.”

“It wasn’t fair to her.” He says. Amy turns and looks at him but now, it’s him giving her his back. “It took me so long to realize it but-but now I know, and maybe that’s why you left Teddy, too.”

She furrows her eyebrows at his back.

“Goodnight, Amy.” he says and doesn’t explain any further, falling into a quiet sleep. Amy lays awake for hours, the words drilling into her brain, feeling as if a big puzzle piece has just fallen into her lap without her knowing where it goes.

-

Amy awakes with a headache the next morning, despite not drinking the night before. Jake, on the other hand, is already up and watching her from her tiny folded bed, wearing his clothes.

“Mornin’ sleepyhead.”

“Oh, my god. What time is it?” Her parents have got to be back by now, she wanted to sneak Jake out before the sun came up. They’re going to murder her.

“Nine.” Which probably means they probably left to Mass already.

“Okay, good.” 

“Anyway, I should probably go. I have a very ugly fight with mom probably coming up.” He sighs dramatically but stands and walks to the window.

“What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

“Jake, the door is over there.”

“Please, can I go through the window?” he pleads. Amy rolls her eyes and stands, going to open the window for him. She slides it open and shivers at the cold morning air. Jake’s watching her with a serious look on his face and Amy is going to strangle him if he says something stupid.

“What?”

“I just-“he pauses. “I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay last night.” Amy’s taken aback and just nods. “Anyway,” he says and nods to the window. He jumps out of her room and immediately recoils. “Oh, my god. It is _so_ cold. How did our ancestors do it without space heaters?” he shivers. “Thanks again, Amy.”

Amy watches with a smile as he climbs down the rest of the stairs.

“Who was _that_?” Amy turns and there stands her brother Fern, the only one of her brothers to still live at home. He raises an eyebrow at her stunned expression. “So?”

-

Later, that same day, Jake meets Boyle for boys’ brunch like they do every Sunday.

“Okay, Jake. Spill it. Your mom called me last night and asked to speak to you, I had to make some emergency as to not arise suspicious to why you couldn’t come to the phone.” Boyle says as he sits.

“Please tell me that you didn’t make it a bathroom emergency.”

“Sorry.” Boyle cringes. “I kinda had to and I kind of wanted to.” At Jake’s look, he adds. “Well, only to warn you about that taco stand next to the pet grooming store.”

“Well, whatever. It doesn’t even matter.” Jake sighs. “I’m here to admit defeat.”

“I thought we were here for our weekly boy’s brunch.”

“Well, yeah, that too. I need my chicken nuggets.” Jake says. “The truth is, you were right.”

“About the taco stand?” Boyle nods. “Yep. They don’t even use real meat for their tacos, Jake.”

“No, it’s not-Wait, what do they use?”

“You don’t even want to know, Jake.” Boyle shakes his head in grief.

“You’re right. Don’t wanna ruin it. I’m probably going to continue eating there.” Jake continues, despite Boyle’s look. “No, about the other thing we talked about. A while back.”

“About the right way to cook paella?” Boyle asks. “Because there’s more than one right way to cook-“

“No! It’s not about food.” Jake shakes his head but Boyle still looks clueless. “Please don’t make me say it, bud.”

Boyle leans in close. “Is this about shampooing-“

“Nope. Not that either.” Jake sighs because at this point, he’s gotta draw it out for Boyle and he might as well, he’s already got the child’s menu and the crayons. “Lemme draw it out.” He begins with her ponytail, but he can’t get the perkiness of it right, so it looks like stiff, black spaghetti coming out of a misshapen head. He then draws her a book in her stick figure hands because she literally always has one. He then draws hearts around her and looks at Boyle with raised eyebrows.

“Is that Dianne Wiest?”

“The hair is black, Charles! It’s Amy.” he blurts out and Boyle’s quizzed look turns into one of wonder.

“Amy? Hearts?” he says, the excitement leaking onto his voice. “Oh, my God. Did Christmas come early? Jake, pinch me.”

“I will not do that.”

“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll do myself.” He pinches himself but the look on his face doesn’t go away.

“Yeah, it pains me to say it, but yes, Amy, hearts and me.” Boyle squeals so loudly that the other customers turn and glare at them. “Charles!”

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll try to contain myself. I promise.” He composes himself for a second and then he’s grinning like a mad man again.

“Charles, if you don’t stop I’m going to go to that taco stand and I’m going to eat a whole taco in front of you.”

“No, no. I’ll stop. Okay, okay.” He breathes in deeply and calms himself down. “Do you think she feels the same way?”

“I don’t know. I mean-“ he pauses. “We sort of had this, I guess, moment last night.”

“Oh, my god! Did you French? Is that why you were gone the rest of the night? Oh, no, wait- did she get gum in her hair and you, the valiant prince, washed it away sensually? No, wait-“

“Charles! Literally nothing like that happened. I had this big fight with my dad and she was there.”

“Oh, yeah. I heard about him returning, sorry ‘bout that Jake.”

“Whatever. He’s still at my house but I’m thinking happy thoughts because he’s already ruined enough things for me. Anyway, she kind of held my hand on the way home from the cab.”

“Skin on skin action is the best.” Charles agrees.

“Ugh. Anyway, she let me stay the night.” At Charles’ look, he adds. “On her sofa bed, who was really comfortable, might I add. Anyway, nothing else happened just that.”

“So, what are you going to do next Oh, I know! Shower her with affection and make her fall in love with you charming good looks and your quirks. That’s how you got Sofia, remember?’

“And that was great and Sofia was awesome but this is Amy that we’re talking about. Let’s be honest, I’ve been charming her unintentionally for months and she isn’t in love with me yet. So, I think I need to pull out the big guns.”

“I don’t know how she isn’t in love with you yet, you’re the most charming guy at school.”

“Precisely.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Charles questions.

Jake sighs dramatically, grimacing a little, he flips his sunglasses on, despite the fact that they’re sitting inside of a diner.

“Nerdy stuff.”

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Here's a tiny excerpt from "I Stopped Going to Therapy" by Clementine Von Radics  
>  _"_  
>  _I think I like my brain best_  
>  _in a bar fight with my heart."_  
> 


	4. Dave Majors

-

His plan to seduce Amy does not really go off into an easy start. Most of his well-crafted plans end up as total failures or they end up totally backfiring on him, as the last one he planned did.

For example, the first plan he has is to go to one of her debate club meetings. Since Genevieve, Charles’ new girlfriend, is in the club too, Charles goes with him. However, Amy doesn’t even see him until after the meeting and they only get to talk for about five minutes, until she has to go off with the rest of the team.

So, he creates a new plan. He plans to get her one of those nerdy books she’s always reading about Picasso or whatever. They’re big and boring, that’s all he knows. So, before class, he goes the bookstore and picks out the heaviest book he can find; he’s more than sure she’ll finish reading it within a week or two.

The book burns a hole in his backpack as he carries it around and when she arrives to Holt’s class, arranges her pens and notebooks, he chickens out.

Instead, after class, when they’re walking towards the cafeteria, he drops the book unceremoniously onto the floor, almost making Amy trip over it.

“Oh, my God. What is _that_?” he asks, in his best shocked voice, which isn’t very good. Amy bends over and picks the book, her eyes widening in wonder.

“Wow. ‘Picasso’s War’.” she reads aloud. She turns to him with wide eyes and Jake has a hard time not grinning back. She fingers the pages. “Looks new, too. Someone probably dropped it.” she suggests.

“Probably.”

“We should turn it into the lost and found.” she says with a nod. Jake’s entire soul freezes as Amy begins making her way to the front office. That book was really expensive and throwing it away would be him waving all that money goodbye.

“No, wait! No. I dropped it.” Amy turns. “I mean, it’s mine. I dropped it.” Amy shots him a disbelieving look.

“No way.” she shakes her head. “There’s no pictures in here, Jake. No way this book is yours.”

“I bought it.” he ruffles through his jean pockets. “I can show you the receipt.” Amy purses her lips as she reads that, yes, he did buy it.

“Why did you even buy this? You don’t even read comics.”

“For-For my mom.”

“Oh.” Amy replies, blinking. “Well, that was nice of you.” Her fingers graze the cover with want as she hands it back over to him.

“But, she already had it.” he finishes. Amy pauses, hands still outreaching towards him. “So, you can keep it.” he finishes rather lamely. Amy cocks her head.

“You sure you don’t want to return it? You could buy two new games with that money.”

“Trust me, I know.” He almost cried handing the money over. “But, no, I want you to keep it. You like that kind of nerdy stuff, right?”

“It’s not nerdy stuff, Jake.” she retorts. “But, okay, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem. Think of it as a welcome gift for letting me stay at your house last week.” Amy avoids his eyes and looks down at her book, the tips of her ears turning red.

“No problem.” she replies.

They hadn’t spoken of that night and this was the first time either of them was bringing it up. His dad was still there, unfortunately, and his mother seemed to float around the house. For the most part, Jake ignored his dad. Although he apologized for Valentine’s, Jake found it hard to forgive him.

Six years of abandonment does that person.

He begins to talk more about that night when their friends find them, surrounding him as they chatter amongst themselves. Jake swallows down his words and Amy looks relieved.

-

He’d heard of the museum's opening from his mother. She was talking on the phone with a friend and she mentioned it, mentioned wanting to go. After that, he did his research.

Some art work from some dead guy was going to be brought over from Europe; it was going to be here for only that night. It was perfect. It was exactly was Amy was into.

He tries to get tickets, only to find out that it’s been sold out for months and that the only way to win them is a radio contest. So, with the money that he was going to use for the tickets, he buys seven burner phones and skips class to call the radio. After thirty minutes of calling, he wins the tickets.

Jake knew that he needed a buffer, someone to make sure that Amy knew that it wasn’t a date because crazy, insane, totally not what he wants. So, he chose Boyle, who gladly said yes.

Then, two days before he was going to tell Amy, Boyle got the flu.

So, he asked Terry, who said he’d be too busy working at the yogurt shop to go. So, he asked Rosa, who walked away as soon as he asked her.

He decided he could do this, tell Amy that, _Oh, well, I invite people but they all bailed, you won’t mind that it’s just you and me right?_.

So, he plans it, speech and all. 

And, then, Dave Majors transfers in.

-

He waits for her by his locker and is slightly shocked when he sees her talking and laughing to some guy, some _handsome_ guy. She’s nodding slightly as he speaks and something begins to boil inside his stomach.

And it’s not that burrito he had for breakfast.

“What do we have here?” he asks, jealousy slightly tinging his voice.

“What are you doing here, weirdo? Don’t you have math?” she asks.

“Yeah. I do.” he says, offering no other explanation. Amy shoots him a look.

“Anyway, this is Dave. He transferred over and Principle Wuntch asked me to show him around.”

Dave nods. “‘Sup?”

“Sup right back at you.” Jake says. Amy’s not paying attention, she’s switching her books into her backpack for her history class. Jake glances over but Dave still isn’t leaving. “Anyways Amy, I was going to ask you a question.”

“Yeah?” she asks, still not paying attention.

“Did you hear about that art show next week?” Amy stops putting her book in her backpack and turns to him slowly.

“The art show based on the life of Van Gogh and the change he’s put in the world or the one on how modernist ideals have-”

“The one with the really old paintings that are coming from Europe.” he finishes lamely.

“Oh, yes. Yeah, I have, why? Is your mom going?”

“Nope. Actually, I may have won three tickets-”

“Wait, you won tickets to the showing of Monet’s pieces?” Dave asks. Jake barely glances at him and nods. “Right on. That show’s been sold out for months.”

“Wow, Jake. This is huge. Are you giving them to your mom?”

“Uh, no.” he shakes his head. “I was going to go with Charles but he couldn’t go, so I was thinking that maybe you could come with me.”

Amy narrows her eyes. “What’s the catch?” she asks. “Is this your way of buttering me up so you can with the bet?”

“No. Definitely not. I’m still winning but I-you know, figured that you’d want to go. I mean, since I have tickets and all.” _And since I skipped a history midterm to win them_.

“Okay, sounds good.” she nods. “Nice! Wait, you said that you have three tickets, who else is coming with us?”

“Uh, I haven’t really thought about it-“ and here comes the other part of his speech that he planned but Amy interrupts him.

“What about Dave? It’d give him a good taste of the city and that way your third ticket doesn’t have to go to waste.”

“Uh.” he pauses because he does not want Mr. California-suave to third wheel on his not-date with Amy but she’s watching him with expectant eyes and he finds himself nodding. “Sounds good. Welcome to the city, Dave.”

“Nice!” Dave grins.

-

And that’s how he finds himself hanging out with Amy and a literal supermodel that Saturday. The art show is not what he expected. His mother used to bring him around when he was younger and couldn’t stay home alone. She’d bring him to shows with bright art and even brighter people. The art was more arts and crafts with silk woven onto the paintings themselves.

This art, however, looks nothing like that. It’s surrealism, with hidden meanings hidden in every crevice.

One painting in particular really gets him. He finds himself staring at a painting for minutes on end, not trying to look as if he's trying to figure it out, but totally trying to figure out what the hell it is. Amy, on the other hand, melts right in. She’s debating modernism with man twenty years older than her, her head held high as she argues and Jake smiles.

Dave sidles on next to him, looking like an even suaver James Bond in his dark black suit. Oh, yeah, they neglected telling him it was black tie. He’s the only one wearing a leather jacket.

“She knows her stuff.” Dave says.

“Yup.” Jake nods and turns back to the art piece. He tries looking at it with his eyes narrowed. Still, nothing.

“Trying to figure it out, huh?”

“Nope.” Jake tells him.

“It’s okay. Took me a while, too.” He points to the clouds circling the boat. “That’s supposed to mean that trouble is coming.” Jake widens his eyes.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

And, okay, Jake gets it. He gets why most of the girls at school started drooling over Dave. He’s nice, funny and okay, handsome. If Jake wasn’t so into Amy, he might have a crush on him, too. Except he is and she walks up to them, huffing a little.

“Can you believe that man thought that his 1891 series were overrated? As if!” she shakes her head in disappointment.

“That was one of his most creative works.”

“Exactly. I mean the whole ‘s’ addition? Iconic.”

“Yeah, totally. I get art.” Jake adds lamely. Amy narrows his eyes at him.

“I think I see a buddy of mine. I’ll be right back.” Dave says and walks away.

“Jake, you don’t have to pretend to be interested in all of this.”

“I am interested. I mean, the ‘s’ stuff? Just riveting.” Amy smiles slightly and tucks her hair behind her ears. “Also, listening to you humiliate that man was worth it.”

“Yeah, well, this was awesome. Thanks for inviting me to this.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“And thanks for letting me bring Dave, too; he’s new to the city and I figured that this would help him blend in.”

“Are you kidding me? I love making people feel welcome.”

And they’re still smiling at each other when Dave walks back again.

-

The next day, when he’s walking to his locker, he runs into Dave. 

“Oh, hey Dave.”

“Hey, Jake.” He says. “Listen, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Shoot.” Jake says, getting his books out of his backpack and tossing them into his locker.

“Is there anything going on between you and Amy?”

Jake pauses and turns to him, taken aback by the question.

“What?”

“Yeah.”

“I-“Jake, begins, a little flummoxed. As he scrambles for answer, he spots her sandwiched between Gina and Rosa. He doesn’t know how much time goes as he stares at her. Hours maybe. Minutes. All he knows is that it feels like the walls are closing in on him, like if he looks away from her for a second, the dark corners of the room won’t creep any nearer towards him.

He also knows that he doesn’t own her. Amy is free to date whoever she wants. Whether it’s him or Adonis incarnate. It’s her decision and he can’t really destroy that because he’s jealous or because he’s kind of, maybe, obsessed with her.

It’s not fair. To Amy or to Dave.

He turns to Dave and he finds himself shaking his head. “Nope. Nothing going on between Amy and me.”

“Cool. I’m going to ask her out.”

“You’re going to ask Amy out. Perfect.” He says slightly bitterly.

And that’s how his last chance backfires on him.

-

He’s at his house that weekend, lying on his bed, when Rosa walks in.

“Get up.” She tosses him his jacket as he mopes on his bed. “We’re going out.”

“Nah. I’d rather stay here and sleep, maybe sleep for days.” He says listlessly. Rosa sits beside him.

“What’s up with you? Did you eat from that hotdog stand that Boyle warned you about?”

“Nah.”

“Then?”

“Why do you think that Amy went out with Teddy?”

“What? Why do you care?”

“I don’t.” he hesitates. “I mean, I do, a little but he’s so boring, so blegh. How did she even date him?”

“Wait. Don’t tell me that you actually like Amy.”

“What?” he shakes his head, not doing a very good job of hiding it. “Nope. I totally don’t.” Rosa’s gaze don’t falter and he sighs. “Yes, but she’s out on a date with Dave. Now, she’s gonna marry him and have his demigod children.”

Rosa shakes her head.

“Has she done the double tuck yet?”

“What is that?”

“When Amy really likes a guy, she gets nervous and tucks her hair behind her ears.” She imitates it, leaving Jake wide eyed.

“I-no. She hasn’t.”

“God, I’m going to lose this bet.” She sighs and gets up. She grabs a shirt from his drawer and chucks it at him. “Get dressed.”

“I told you I didn’t want to go.”

“Look, the only way that Amy is in any way going to date you is if you actually let her know you’re interested.” She raises her eyebrows. “You need to go up to her and tell her.”

“You’re going to lose your bet.” Jake argues slightly, already buttoning up his shirt.

“Yeah, well, maybe I want to lose.” At Jake’s look, she scowls. “Shut up. Meet me downstairs.”

“Okay, you, romantic, you.” Rosa chucks a shoe at him.

-

They find them pretty easy. Dave’s dad owns a pretty fancy Italian restaurant and they’re sitting together, talking about God knows what but they look pretty cozy. She’s wearing her hair down, pin straight, and it shines as she shakes her head as she speaks.

“What are you waiting for?” Rosa asks, pushing him in.

“Wait, I-I don’t think this is a good idea.” He argues. “Don’t you think I should let her make her own decision?”

“You are. You’re just letting her know you’re an option.”

He hesitates and nods. “I should’ve combed my hair before I left. How does it look?”

“Fine.” She says and juts her chin towards the door. “Go!”

He walks slowly into the restaurant, noticing how the lightened chandeliers illuminate her face. She laughs when Dave says something, her eyes crinkling.

Then, it’s like a kick to the chest, and it’s like in slow motion as she begins to tuck her hair behind her ears. Afterwards, all he can do is stare at her, because, it happened. Something caves into his chest as he realizes that he could’ve stopped this but didn’t. Couldn’t.

Rosa comes up behind him and puts her hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry, bud. Let’s go get drunk at Boyle’s house, huh?”

He just nods.

-

He arrives the next day to school with Rosa, with a huge hangover. He’s not really looking forward to English class or even the rest of the school year. He wonders if it’s too late to switch schools.

He’s rubbing his temples, doesn’t even notice Dave until he taps him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Jake.”

“Oh, hey, Dave.” He tries not to make his voice too reproachful. Rosa stands next to him, no hangover in sight, the lucky bunny. She’s trying not to make it obvious that she’s listening in, pretending to look over her phone.

“Have you seen Hitchcock or Scully?”

“Wait,why?”

“We’ve been hanging out; I like them.”

“Uh,” Jake falters, not sure that anyone has ever said ‘I like them’ when they were referring to Hitchcock and Scully. “they’re probably in the cafeteria.”

“Cool, thanks.” He begins to walk away.

“Wait, how’d it go with Amy last night?” he asks, failing to contain his eagerness.

“She wasn’t into it.” Dave shakes his head and look down the corridor, eyes narrowed, as if he was staring deep into the sunset. “Turned me down.”

“Amy turned you down?” Rosa asks, not pretending to be on her phone anymore.

“Yeah. Totally unexpected.” He shakes his head, as if he, too, cannot believe it.

“Hey, Dave!” Hitchcock calls from the edge of the hall. “Scully and I got left over hoagies; want to share?”

“On my way.” He pats Jake’s arm as he leaves. “See you around.”

Jake’s still stuck staring at the spot that Dave inhabited seconds ago. Rosa’s grinning as she goes around and meets his eyes. 

“She turned him down, huh?”

“Yeah, but she double tucked. What does that mean?”

“Jake-“

“Unless, she was lying to him and really does-“

“Jake-“

“Do you think she likes him?”

“Jake-“

“Yeah, you’re right. I need to ask her myself.” He nods. “How do I look?”

“Fine.” She shrugs. “Now, go. She’s probably in the library.”

He nods. “Thanks, Rosa. I promise I won’t tell everyone that you’re the most romantic person on Earth.” He’s gone before she can punch him in the arm.

As she watches him go towards his goal, she makes her mind up. She finds her in the dance room, music blaring. Rosa disconnects the connection and Gina stops dancing.

“Rosa, why did you do that? My body was literally lighting the room on fire.” Her hair hangs limply around her face, sweaty. “Well, aren’t you going to explain why you stopped a masterpiece in prog-“

“I lost the bet. Jake likes Amy and he’s going to tell her right now. They’re probably going to have sex or maybe they aren’t. I don’t care. I lost.”

“So this is you admitting defeat?”

Rosa shrugs. “Sure.”

“Well, this is delicious.” She holds her finger to her chin, tapping. “What should I waste that motorcycle ride on?”

“Dinner. With me.” Gina pauses, taken aback. “A date.” she clarifies.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Or dancing.” She steps closer to Gina, until they’re millimeters apart. “I’ve been dancing for fifteen years.”

Gina’s eyes glitter.

-

Jake finds Amy in the library. She’s reading, just like Rosa said she was going to be. She’s wearing one of her usual collared shirts; she looks immaculate, clean and he doesn’t want to disturb her.

Unfortunately for him, he trips on one of the leg chairs and falls at her feet. He curses silently.

“Jake?”

“Oh, Amy? Sorry, I thought I dropped like a hundred dollar bill here or something...” he shakes his head, standing. “Oh, well. Anyway, what are you up to?”

“Reading.” She says slowly, pointing the all too obvious book on the table.

“Oh, right.” He shakes his head and sits down next to her. “So, I just ran into our old buddy Dave and God, does he look rough. Almost like he’s been up all night crying?”

“Ha-ha.” Amy says sarcastically. “Real funny.”

“So,” he says as nonchalantly as he can, which isn’t a lot. “What happened?

“So, turns out that he thought it was a date. I thought it was just going to be a hangout but, he thought very differently."

“And you were not into that?”

“No.” she shakes her head. “I learned my lesson with Teddy and honestly, I’m probably moving schools next year and I really don’t want to date anybody. I mean, it’ll only distract me from school and I want to be valedictorian. So, I have a new rule: no dating until college.”

“College, such a long..time.” he says weakly.

“Yeah.” She shrugs, as if it’s nothing to her. But, to him, it seems like a lifetime away. As did her moving to another school, which he realizes is in months to come.

“Well, I have the same rule. No dating until I’m a cop and then, thirty more years of experience.”

“And if you don’t have enough time to find someone suitable, there’s always the people in senior homes.” Jake nods along.

“You’re right. They like to get down. Just ask my nana.”

“Ew.” She wrinkles her nose in disgust.

“Anyway, I should go. I have history. I guess I’ll see you in Holt’s later.”

“Yeah.” He begins to walk away and she calls out, “Don’t forget the bet ends next week!”

“Yeah and I’m looking forward to winning.” 

“And I’m looking forward to watching you lose.” She smiles and Jake grins back. As he walks away, everything that she said sinking in, he doesn’t see as Amy tucks her hair behind her ears, her cheeks dimpling as she smiles even after he’s gone from her sight.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today, I have a sonnet by Neruda. Also, I'm sorry it took me literally a month to update, I started school and things have been hectic. On the plus side, I'm almost done with the next chapter and I'll have it up by Friday or maybe even tomorrow. And the next chapter is the end of the Bet. Also, I know nothing about Monet, I'm a poetry person, not an art one.  
> " _my feet will want to walk to where you are sleeping_  
>  _but_  
>  _I shall go on living._ "


	5. The End of the Bet

She’s waiting by his locker by the time he gets to school the next morning. She’s wearing pink today, making her whole face rosy, making her look fresh-faced and wide awake. Meanwhile, he went over to Boyle’s and didn’t get home until three, giving him a record breaking three hours of sleep.

She’s grinning widely as he makes his way to her. 

“Hello, Jake.”

“Hello, Amy.” He replies and he can’t help the smile that slightly blooms as he looks down at her.

“Tell me,” she begins, holding up two car fresheners that she was holding behind her back. Jake winces and covers his nose as their thick flowery smell invades his senses. “which do you think smells better?” she holds the big one shaped like a flower up to his face. “Hibiscus surprise?”

“Oh, my god.” He mutters covering his nose. Amy grins and holds the other one up: a big orange shaped one.

“Or fresh spring orange?”

“How ‘bout death?” he answers and Amy’s grin widens.

“I take it you love them both?” she shrugs. “I think I might put both of them up. You know, to get that smell of moldy cheese out of the car.” She shrugs again and sighs dramatically. “Or I might even take it to get washed; the possibilities are endless.”

“Nice try, Amy. Cars can’t get washed.”

Amy pauses, for a second, getting ready to correct him but shrugs it off.

She hands him both air fresheners, despite his protests. “I can’t wait to see who wins.” She says over her shoulder as she walks away.

Jake can’t help it and stares after her with a smile on his face. He remembers that he’s still holding the air fresheners as he’s walking to History and he slides them into Keith Pembroke’s locker.

-

The next day, he’s waiting for her outside of her math class, holding up several menus. After everything that had gone on between his Big Revelation and the Dave Majors fiasco, he had actually forgotten to plan the horrible date.

But, now, that nothing else preoccupied him, he put all his energy into it, it was a distraction if nothing else from the horrible truth that Amy didn’t like him and that he was going to die alone.

So, he called Boyle and asked him for his best restaurant recommendation, which, to Jake, meant that it was the most disgusting, just what he wanted. But dinner wasn’t the only thing he was planning, there is a lot more where that’s come from, including a live circus act.

Amy’s class lets out and as usual, she’s the last one out.

“Hello, Amy.” He coos and she sighs.

“What are you doing here, Jake?”

“Nothing. Just, you know, hanging out.”

“Really?” she raises an eyebrow. “And those menus in your hand mean nothing?”

“These? Oh, well you see, I just had a simple question for you, Amy.”

“Yeah?” she asks, already dreading the question before it’s out of her mouth.

“Are you allergic to sheep’s bladder?”

“What?” 

“Yeah or maybe pig brain?” She makes a disgusted noise as he shows her the very descriptive picture on the inside of one of the menus. It reminds her of when she was eight years old and her parents didn’t let her watch that Ed Gein documentary, warning her of its mature subject but she snuck into the kitchen and watched it anyways. Afterwards, she had nightmares for months. 

“Get that out of my face.” She bats at his hand, crinkling the menu.

“Name of your sextape.” Amy glowers and he continues. “Anyway, yes or no?”

“Leave me alone, Jake.” She turns, ready to leave but he tuts, stopping her as he grabs her arm. 

"Okay, fine, what about a nice vegetarian meal consisting only of nomadic food.”

She pauses, slightly curious. “Like berries?”

“More like cow dung on a bed of leaves and branches.”

She grimaces and he grins and hands her the menus. “Anyway, let me know.” He shrugs. “We only have a few more days and I have to make reservations.” He walks away, whistling loudly.

Amy sighs, dropping the menus into the nearest trashcan with a disgusted sound.

 

-

 

The day of the test, they stand face to face outside of the classroom, where Boyle massages Jake’s shoulders from behind, casually whispering reassurances to him. Amy, on the other hand, narrows her eyes, her gaze not faltering from Jake’s own fierce glare. 

Because, today is the day. Today the bet ends and either Amy will have to endure the worst date of her life or Jake will have will have to lend her his car for the best night of hers.

Either way, one of them is winning and the other is losing.

Amy knows it’s going to be her. Jake swears it’s going to be him.

“You ready?”

“I was born ready.”

“To lose? The full question was if you were ready to lose.” Amy’s simmering in slight anger and she smiles tightly at him.

“Let’s see if you’re as cocky in two hours.”

She steps close to him, almost nose to nose, despite the slight height advantage he has over her.

“Let’s do this.” He says with a cocky grin, stepping even closer to her.

“Let’s go.”

-

The day that their tests are set to return, they’re civil to one another, a rare occurrence as their usual state for the last month has been constant bickering. They’re holding their energy close to them, saving it for that big final moment of humiliation. Amy has been practicing her victory dance and Jake has been orchestrating something bigger. He studied hard for days, even missing boys’ brunch with Boyle in lieu of studying and the win wouldn’t feel as good if he didn’t get to rub it in everybody’s faces.

“Everyone did great in this exam.” Holt says before he passes out the tests. “Some more than others but it is important to remember that grades are not the important thing in the-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it. Can you hand the tests out yet?” Amy finds herself saying and stiffens with wide eyes as she realizes what she’s just said. “I’m sorry.” she squeaks and Jake sniggers next to her. Holt stares at her with unimpressed eyes for a moment and Amy shrinks into her seat.

Finally he begins to pass out the tests and Amy and Jake stiffen as he reaches to them. He sets them down on their table, face down. Both of them stare down at it, not wanting to be the first one to turn it over.

Because, here it is.

“Ladies first.” He says and Amy shakes her head.

“No, you go first.”

“No, you-“

“Turn it over, Jake.” She insists darkly, itching to get this over with. He grins wickedly and switches the paper over, where a big, red A is written. Amy narrows her eyes and turns her over quickly. Her heart falls as she gazes as the letter written on the right hand corner.

“No.” she whispers hoarsely. _This is not happening_ , she thinks remembering all the gross dinners he has spoken about and about the night of ‘fun treats’ he had planned.

Next to her, Jake grins, his face in elated glee.

“What was that Amy?”

“What? Nothing. I-“ she shakes her head, still in shock. She’s never gotten a ‘B’ in anything.

In. Anything.

“I think you saw that you failed and miserably, might I add.”

“I did not fail.” She retorts, her voice loud and pitchy. Some of her classmates turn to her and she starts to blush but continues speaking. “You cheated.”

“How? We studied together.” He snorts. “I actually thought you were going to win but since you didn’t-“ he whistles loudly, making most of the students cover their ears, he gets on top of his desk, despite Holt’s protests. “Bring in the band!”

“What-“

The school’s marching band walks in, loudly playing ‘When the Saints Went Marching In”, the only song they know. All Amy can do is watch as they circle the room, the trumpet, the drums, the saxophone and even the oboe, their harmony a taunting smile. She covers her ears, trying to save her poor eardrums.

“Bring in the board!” Jake yells from atop his desk. Next to him, Holt tries to talk him down but Jake is grinning widely.

“Mr. Peralta! Get off of your desk!” Holt proclaims but Jake’s too busy dancing, too busy humiliating Amy, who can only watch as the cheerleading squad wheels in a huge board, the words “Jake won!” in big bubble letters.

They line up and begin to chant “Jake won!” as they dance. Students peek their heads in as they hear the commotion and they begin to trickle in and take videos and pictures with their phones. 

Amy wonders when he got everyone in on it.

Someone plays ‘Celebrate’ from their phone and Jake dances on the table top. He jumps off the desk and nearly runs to the board, slipping from Holt’s grip.

“Would you look at that? Jake won!” he dances over to her and Amy aims to make herself very, very small but nothing happens. She knew he had something big planned but did not guess that it would’ve been this humiliating; she curses herself for not skipping class. But then again, he’d probably bring the ‘party’ to her.

He retrieves a small black box from his pocket and kneels on one leg next to her chair. He opens up the box, showing a cheap silver ring in a velvet bed.

“Amy Santiago, will you go on the worst date of your life with me? You have to say yes.” The room watches with anxious eyes.

She pouts, ignores Jake’s grinning face and whispers, “Yes.”

Jake tosses the ring box on her lap and stands. “She said yes, ladies and gentlemen.” The classroom cheers and someone opens a champagne bottle, which immediately gets confiscated by Mr.Holt.

“That is enough! Everybody go to your respective classes and Mr. Peralta, go see Principle Wuntch.” Holt booms and most of the students make their quick exit, including the marching band and the cheerleaders.

Jake’s grinning as he makes his way out and then he turns and says, “Can’t wait for this Saturday, lover.”

Amy’s whole face beams red.

-

Jake gets a whole weeks worth of detention and a talking to from his mother in her art room, but worth it. He’s grinning after detention, walking to his locker when he runs into some guys from the tennis club. It’s Bill, Mark and, of course, Teddy. 

“Hey, Jake. We saw the video, why didn’t you ask us to help you?” Bill asks.

“Yeah, we’re a little offended.” Mark adds. Teddy, on the other hand, just looks at Jake with a blank expression. Jake looks away quickly.

“Uhm, next time I humiliate someone I’ll go straight to you guys.” he says. Bill and Mark laugh, pat him on the shoulder and leave. Teddy hangs back for a second and Jake thinks he’s going to say something, maybe punch him, but he leaves after them. It’s relieving.

It’s not that he’s scared of Teddy, but he feels strange at the thought of him liking Amy when Teddy was dating her. It feels like he’s overstepping something or maybe it’s guilt. Whatever it is, the relief of it is short lived because Teddy comes up to him as he’s walking to his car.

“So, you and Amy, huh?” he asks and Jake winces a little.

“Not really. It’s just a bet.” Although I wouldn’t be opposed to something more.

“Yeah, I heard.” Teddy says as he walks beside him.

He doesn’t really think about it but he asks:

“So, what’s Amy into? Does she read all the menus for typos?” Teddy remains impassive, his eyes hard and heavy as he looks down at Jake. Jake regrets his question immediately and crosses his arms as they stop walking. They stand in front of one another and Teddy sighs deeply.

“Did Amy ever tell you why we broke up?” The question takes Jake by surprise.

“Uh, no, not really.” He pauses, remembering that Valentine’s Day night. He knew she was lying that night, that she was hiding something. He figured it was because the sex was bad or he had six nipples or something and she was embarrassed. “Do you have six nipples?”

“Because of you, Peralta.” Jake drops his hands, stunned.

“What?”

“You certainly must remember that party, the party that you two spent on that rooftop, eating peanuts and talking. Meanwhile, Sofia and I were downstairs trying to find you two. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. You two were friends and that’s all that I thought it was. But then, Amy started acting weird around me, started avoiding me. I thought I had done something wrong when she broke up with me but when I saw the way her eyes danced around you, I knew I had found my answer.” 

Jake’s mind reels and he struggles to form one thought, much less, a sentence. His head spins as he tries to recall any instances in which Amy would’ve looked at him with stars in her eyes. He fails to recall any.

“I-“

“I don’t know if anything happened between you two that night; all I know is that one moment I knew Amy and the next moment, I didn’t.’

“Amy and I-” he sputters. “Nothing ever happened. Even now.”

“I don’t-” Teddy shakes his head, as Jake fails to understand what he was trying to say. “Look, think about it, why do you think she agreed to this stupid bet? You know her better than anyone and you know that part of her was willing to lose. As competitive as she may be, Amy knew the consequence of losing to you and maybe it looked better than the prize.”

“Wait, you think Amy lost on purpose?” Jake shakes his head. “We studied together. We-“

“Exactly.” Teddy says and shakes his head with a sigh. “She’s had the valedictorian spot ever since she transferred over. Think about it.” And he walks away, leaving Jake in the dust of his confession, all the more confused than before.

Jake stands in the same spot, despite the sprinklers turning on and wetting his pants, making them cling to his legs. He watches with hazy eyes as Teddy saunters over to his car; he wants to run up to him and ask him to explain, to go into more detail but he couldn’t move. He also wants to call her, wants to ask her, _Amy did you have a crush on me? Amy, was I the reason you dumped Teddy?_

But he couldn’t move. 

All he knew was this: Amy might've, in the past and maybe even in the present, had a crush on him and that he was going on a date with her tomorrow.

His plans shifted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am here as promised. I hope to update by next Friday or possibly the next. I promise I won't take a month!  
> I have "A Toast" by Lang Leav  
> " _To new beginnings,_  
>  _in fear and faith_  
>  _and all it tinges._
> 
> _To love is a dare,_  
>  _when hope and dispare,_  
>  _are gates upon its hinges._  
>  "


	6. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Date

 

He stops by Rosa’s house before he does anything else. She’s watching TV in her room, sitting on her bed when Jake barges in and plops down next to her.

“What are you doing here, Peralta?” she asks, raising her eyebrows as he lies down, his muddy sneakers dirtying her pink bed sheets that her mother refuses to her change.

“Teddy told me that Amy likes me. Or liked.” He furrows his eyebrows.

“Why were you even talking to Teddy?”

“I wasn’t. some of the tennis guys came up to me after detention and he was with them.” He looks over at her as he defends himself. “And he asked me about the bet and about Amy and then he just told me that he thinks that Amy sabotaged herself so I’d win.”

“And you really believe that?” Jake furrows his eyebrows. “You think Amy Santiago would really throw away a game so you’d win?”

“Well, no.” he says and pauses for a second. “He also insinuated that I was the reason that he and Amy broke up.” He adds.

“Wow.” Rosa says. “What are you going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going on a date with her tomorrow. Who’s to say it has to be bad.” She says. Jake slowly turns to her, his eyes brightening. “Make the best of that date. Make her night. Do all of those dumb things that she likes, like museums and dumb art. Whatever.”

“Okay.” He smiles. “I’m going to do just that. You know, you have such a nice romantic-“

“Call me romantic again and I’ll murder you while you sleep.”

Jake grins and nods. “I blame Gina.” He says and dances out of her reach. “Be right back, I have some calls to make.”

-

That night, he waits nervously for her outside of her building. He curses himself for the third time for wearing his itchiest but fanciest shirt, the one without any food stains on it. After the clock on his car turns from: 59 to: 00, he gets off and nervously locks it, almost dropping his keys into a storm drain.

Afterwards, he nervously combs his hair in the elevator reflection. (Although he later untamed it so he doesn’t seem as nerdy).

When he gets to her apartment, he clears his throat and knocks, cursing when he notices the doorbell right next to it.

He anxiously awaits for a moment, growing weary as the door goes unopened for a whole minute and a half. Then, it’s opened but it isn’t Amy, but a taller man, with her same expressive eyes. Right now, they’re twinkling with mischief as he half-smirks.

“Oh, hey. You here for my coming out party, right?” he asks. “Or did my little sister finally boss-up and finally hired me a stripper?”

“I-um.” Jake’s stunned and the guy chortles, pulling him by his arm into the apartment, where loud voices, not Amy’s, talk in fast and loud Spanish.

“Come in. You must be here for my sister. She’s here, somewhere.” Jake tries to wrestle his arm away but this guy is strong and leads him towards the loud voices.

“I can wait for her outside-“

“It’s okay. They don’t know about that Valentine’s Day night.” He winks over his shoulder and Jake blanches. “I’m Fran, by the way. Or Francisco, I guess but everybody calls me Fran.”

“I’m-“

“Jake. Yeah, I know.” He says. “You’re interrupting my coming out party, by the way. Did I mention that already?”

“In a way.” Jake says back, still taken aback by that Valentine’s Day comment. 

They make it to the kitchen, where an older couple and two others guys sit at the table. Jake tries to shrink behind Fran, who pushes him forward. The room grows quiet slowly and Jake smiles awkwardly as they all stare. He finds Amy by the edge of the room, sighing as she spots Fran’s semi-evil look behind him.

There’s a cake in the table, abandoned and Jake can still make out most of the congratulations on it. For a cake, it doesn’t look appetizing.

“Everyone this is Jake. He’s here for Amy. He’s also interrupting my coming out party but he’s very sorry about it.” Fran sits on one of the chairs, leaving Jake all on his own.

Amy’s dad, who he’s seen in passing, is staring at from his seat in the table. He’s a tall man, with a fierce stare and Jake can feel himself shrink small. And the man isn’t even standing.

“Awkward.” One of them coughs, the one with long hair,more likely one of Amy’s older brothers and Jake blushes. Amy stands, glaring at the cougher and he shrinks into his seat.

“Sorry, Jake. I’m almost ready but my pain in the ass of a brother decided to have a coming out party.” She says as she makes her way to him.

“I’ll be right back.” She says and leaves the room. Jake stares after her in despair, thinking _please don’t leave me alone here. I think your dad is going to eat me alive._

She doesn’t seem to hear.

Afterwards, her mom jumps to her feet or Jake thinks that it’s her mom. She looks like a slightly older Amy, down to the tight coiled bun at the nape of her neck. “How rude of me. Would you like some cake, Jake?”

“It’s fucking disgusting. It’s vegan.” Her cougher of a brother says.

“It is not disgusting.” Her mom says. “What’s disgusting is that mouth of yours, Vincente. You’re going to wash all the dishes now.”

He grunts and scowls, looking more like a child than a grown man. Jake’s mouth twitches but his smile disappears when he meets Amy’s dad’s eyes, who is still watching him from his seat on the table.

“No, thank you.” Jake answers. 

“Answer me this, Jake.” Fran asks and Jake nearly groans at the twinkle in his eye. “How in the hell did you get my sister to go on a date with you? Do you know how long Teddy had to plead so Amy would go on a date with him?”

“Oh, god. That poor boy.” One of her brother snickers, a tall one who is an exact replica of his father.

“I liked Teddy.” Amy’s dad speaks for the first time and Amy’s mom rolls her eyes as his eyes don’t leave Jake. Then, she smiles at Jake.“He was a good boy, hardworking and smart.”

“He was a huge boring nerd.” Fran says. “Tell me Jake, you don’t want to be a mechanical engineer do you?”

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “I want to be a cop.” Amy’s dad looks interested at this. “Well, a detective.” He clarifies and the whole room groans. Amy’s mom winces as she puts the leftover cake in the fridge.

“A detective?” Amy’s dad asks. Jake nods.

“You’re going to regret saying that.” Vicente says, now beginning to clean the table. 

“Is your father a cop?” Amy’s dad asks in his slight accent.

Jake shakes his head, trying his best not to frown at the mention of his father, who still roamed around their apartment. “Nope. He’s a pilot. I actually want to be a detective because of Die Hard.”

“Die Hard?” Amy’s dad’s twin asks incredulously.

“Yeah, my favorite movie. The best cop movie, in my opinion.” The whole room groans again.

“Oh, Jake. You’re going to regret saying that, too.” Vicente says again.

“Really? That movie is highly inaccurate. Let me tell you,” Amy’s dad shakes his head and opens his mouth, with no doubt going to go in a long, long speech but Amy appears. Amy notices her father’s demeanor and she groans.

“You mentioned Die Hard, didn’t you?” she sighs. “Let’s go before he starts.” She tugs his arm as they leave the room and Fran calls out to them before they can leave. 

“Wait, you didn’t answer my question. How did you get Amy to go on a date with you?”

“She lost a bet.” He says simply, not wanting to get into the logistics of it and Amy scowls next to him, pinching the arm she was still grabbing onto.

The whole room turns to him with surprise.

“A bet?” Amy’s mom asks.

“Yeah, I beat her in a test.”

Fran snorts and begins to laugh loudly.

“Let’s go.” She says again, frowning, and pulls him out of the room. “We’ll be back later.”

“No later than eleven, Amy.” Her father calls out to her and Amy groans.

“Have fun!” Fran says as they open the apartment door. His voice is slightly muted as he says, “And I forgive you for ruining my coming out party, Jake.”

-

“That was painful.” He says.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” She says as they await the light to change from red to green. “My family can be a bit…much.”

“Your brother is a hoot.”

“Fran? He’s a pain in the ass. My only cool brother is Luis but he’s in the Maldives right now.”

“Fran came out yesterday?”

“Nope. Five years ago.” She rolls her eyes. “But he insists on a coming out party every year.”

“I wish my mom threw me a party. All my mom did was buy me a shirt.”

“You can share Fran’s coming out party. Next year, you’ll both get cake. He’ll hate not having all of attention on him.”

“Thanks.” Jake says as the light turns green, he goes. It’s quiet for a second and Jake’s taps his fingers on the steering wheel as he drives.

They’re in a comfortable silence as they drive and Jake’s glad that Amy hasn’t asked about their destination because he isn’t quite sure how he would explain it. _Oh, hey Amy just trying to take you on a pretty good date so that you can forego that rule of yours and actually date me_.

Uh, no.

It’s twenty minutes in when he notices the slight smoke coming out from under the hood. His car skids for a moment and then it starting slowing down. It’s done this before and usually Jake would just park in the side of the street and pick his car up the next day but right now, in the middle of an empty road, on the outskirts of the city.

“Oh, noooo.” He says, cursing slightly as he drives off the road. Amy looks around in alarm as the front of the car starts smoking.

“What’s going on?” The car skids slightly on the wet ground and she grabs tightly onto the door. “Oh, my god.”

Jake presses down on the brake hard and the car lets out one loud sound before it stops completely. They can hardly see out the front window due to the smoke and they cough as it comes in thru the windows that don’t go up.

“Oh, my God.” She says again, amidst all her coughing. Jake cover his mouth with his itchy shirt, now itchier than ever. After thirty seconds of coughing, the smoke stops coming so thickly and they’re able to breathe. “Jake?” Amy asks from within her shirt.

“Hmm?”

“Are we stranded?”

“Yes.” He sighs. “Why did this have to happen? We were almost there.”

“Where were we even going? Were you going to murder me in the middle of the woods?”

“What? No.” he groans. 

“Or, God, is this the beginning of your bad date, Jake? Because I really don’t want to die.”

“Nope.” He says. “I promise.” The smoke stops coming out and they uncover their mouths, breathing in the clean air deeply.

“God, where are we?”

“Halfway to Jersey.” He says. Amy turns at that.

“Jersey? What were we going to be doing in Jersey?”

He sighs, because the tickets in his pocket are going to waste anyway and now there’s no way to salvage this date.

“There was an old book expo-“

“The Hartfield Book Society’s Book Exposition?” she asks in awe and Jake nods. He glances at her and she’s watching him with wide eyes and he looks away. “Why?”

“Because the font one was sold out.”

“Jake.” She shakes her head. “No, I mean, why are you doing this? You won, remember?”

“Well, yeah.” He looks at her and swallows at the fragile look on her face. He doesn’t look away. “But, I thought, it’d be, I don’t know- fun. Or, I guess I thought-“ he stops and Amy looks away blinking with wide eyes. He fiddles with his fingers in his lap.

“Well, thank you. I guess for the thought. That was nice of you.”

“Yep.” He says simply. It’s awkward for a moment and Jake bites his lip from speaking. “I guess I better call a taxi.” She nods and he steps outside of the car. She stares out the window as he makes the call and he thinks about calling Rosa and asking for her advice but decides against it.

She turns to him as he sits back down.

“Uh, he said he’d be a while. Apparently there’s like a big accident so they’re going to take a while.”

“Okay.” She says.

There’s a moment of silence as they sit there, both unsure of what to say.

“What does your family have against Die Hard?” he asks suddenly.

She turns to him with raised eyebrows. “What?”

“Yeah. You’ve never seen it; it seems like your dad hates it. Are you a family of Die Hard haters?” he asks. Amy scoffs, relaxing a little as she rolls her eyes.

“Good god, Jake.” She shakes her head. “We’re not really having this conversation, are we?”

“I think we are.” He says back and she tries to hide her smile. Jake is relieved because that cloud of weird uncomfortableness is gone. “How can you hate something that you’ve never seen, Amy?” he asks.

“The same way you hate broccoli even though you’ve never had it.”

“That’s different. Broccoli is evil!” he retorts. “I can’t believe it. I don’t think I can be friends with someone from a family of Die Hard haters.”

“Well, you’re stuck with me for quite a while. Now that my dad knows you want to be a cop, he’s not going to leave you alone.”

Jake laughs to cover up the fact that he wouldn’t mind that one bit.

“Anyway,” he begins, glad that there’s no awkward moment between them again. “What should we do to pass the time?”

“We could name all the books that were going to be in the expo?” she suggests. “I’ll start! The first edition of-“

“Or we can just watch a movie on my phone?”

“Mine sounded better but okay.” She shrugs. Jake shows her the right way to recline the seats and he loads the movie.

They’re quiet in the beginning of the movie and Amy narrows her eyes suspiciously, opens her mouth to speak and changes her mind at the last minute.

“What?” Jake asks. Amy purses her lips and sighs, shaking her head. Jake pauses the movie not wanting to be distracted from whatever is bothering her.

“It’s just, this movie is grossly inaccurate.”

“Grossly?” he asks, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

Amy glares at him and rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean, Jake.”

“Okay.” He nods and sets his phone down, ready for her. “What did they get wrong? Do ants not have hair as beautiful as Paul Rudd’s?”

“The thing is: they wouldn’t even have hair but, you know, Hollywood doesn’t really care about the science of it, do they?”

“They do not.” He states and Amy narrows her eyes at the slight smirk gracing his face.

“You can laugh at me all you want, Jake but the reality of it is that Hollywood only cares about money.”

“I’m not making fun of you.”

“Start the movie again, Jake.” She says, rolling her eyes. Jake grins as they lie back down and focus in the movie. Fifteen minutes in, she sighs loudly again and Jake pauses it, raising his eyebrows. She purses her lips, not wanting to give him more material to make fun of her with but she can’t help herself. “First of all, the water would not shove him like that; if anything they’d drown him. Also, how is he moving so fast?”

“I mean, he _is_ ant man.” Jake argues but not entirely meaning it.

“Yeah, but even ants don’t move at that velocity.” She retorts.

“So, do you want to stop watching it?”

“No. Continue it.” She replies

This time, she gets through five minutes of watching it before she’s sighing loudly and Jake pauses it.

(That happens six more times until the taxi arrives)

-

They leave Jake’s car in the side of the road and Jake mentions coming for it the next morning. The taxi takes them the city, where they buy vanilla ice cream and walk around central park. Afterwards, they sit on the bench and let their feet dangle as they let the silence engulf them.

The cars wheeze on around them, the sound of the taxis is earsplitting but they’re deaf to it all.

“Were you really going to take me to the old book expo?” she asks after a moment.

“Yeah.” He nods and doesn’t say anything else. Suddenly the air is too think and he feels like he can’t breathe. Amy beside him, in her thin shirt, shivers. He takes off his jacket and hands it to her in what he hopes is a non-romantic matter. “Here.”

She takes it hesitantly and slides it on quickly. The slightly padded shoulders hang limply around her and the sleeves are too long, leaving only her fingertips exposed.

It’s adorable. Jake tries not to stare for too long. It’s quiet between although the quiet sits calmly between them.

“Well, thanks.” She says after a moment.

“We didn’t even make it.”

“It’s the thought that counts.”

“Wish you would’ve told me that before I spent all that money on the tickets.” He jokes and she rolls her eyes. They smile softly at one another, warmth radiating between them both. “You’re welcome.”

“I can’t stop thinking of how wrong that movie was.” She says after a moment and Jake groans loudly. “Listen to me, it was-“

“Grossly inaccurate, I know.” He says and rolls his eyes playfully. Amy’s lip twitches and she smiles slightly at him. He smiles back. 

In the eve of the night, as the cars blare around them and as the night grows colder, they sit on a park bench and smile at each other like weirdos.

-

It’s not until later, when she’s in her room, that she realizes that she still has his jacket. She starts taking it off but stops and remains enveloped in it. It’s soft , plus, it smells good. Her brother Fern, like the uneducated fool he is, bursts into her room and sits on her bed as she’s brushing her hair back.

“So?”

“So, what?”

“So how did everything go?”

“Good.”

“DId he, you know, try anything?”

“What?” she asks, surprised. Fran rolls his eyes. “Why would he do that? Jake and I are friends.”

“Come on, Amy. He’s totally into you.”

“Jake? No, he isn’t.” she shakes her head and sits in her desk chair, determined to do some homework before it’s too late. “We’re friends, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh. Friends do not look at each other the way that he looks at you.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” She tries to swat him away as he leans in close to her.

“No, I’m not. I think you’re being ridiculous by refusing to see what’s in front of your eyes.”

“No, he doesn’t.” she establishes, her voice sturdy and her brother rolls his eyes.

“You’ve definitely noticed it, haven’t you? And now you’re scared to think of ‘what if’.” He hires her voice to match her timbre. “’Hmm, I’m Amy and I have no idea as to why this guy bet on me to go on a date with him. I’m Amy and I’m so blind to what’s so bluntly obvious in front of me.”

“Ugh.” She says because, okay, she might’ve suspected something. But it was hard not to. And okay, after tonight, she was more than sure that he liked her or had slight feelings for her.

But that doesn’t mean she does for him or that she wants to ask him. Anyway, what good would that do? It took her forever to shake Teddy off and plus, she has a rule: no dating until college. Sure, it’s a self-imposed rule and sure, she could just cancel it all but Amy Santiago doesn’t break rules.

Nor does she bend the rules for herself. It’s not the Amy Santiago way.

“Can you please go away so I can do my English homework?”

“Fine. I’ll leave but just think, Ames. Why do you think he’s gone through all this trouble just to go on a date with you? Why do you think he’s done all of this for you?”

Amy’s quiet as he leaves and as he shuts the door tightly behind him.

Amy groans and covers her eyes with her palms. It’s strange to think that Jake might like her in a way that’s romantic, especially after being around him for so long and something settles in her stomach as she pictures herself dating him, not like tonight but an actual date with flowers and kisses and-

Beside her, her phone lights up with a new message, interrupting her mid-thought. It’s Jake. It’s a screenshot on some of the inaccuracies that she had mentioned. _Caught u cheating_ , he says.

Amy grabs her phone, smiling slightly and already crafting a message. But then, her brother’s words ring in her ears and she just deletes the message. If Jake asks, she never received it.

Then, she decides that there are rules for a reason. That nothing is meant to be broken. Especially rules.

She’s moving next year and it’ll be her last year before she starts college and she wants to be fully prepared. And, okay, if Jake wants to ask her out in two years, she wouldn’t be awfully opposed to it.

But for now, as she ignores another text from him, she tells herself that she doesn’t need the distraction and Jake is full of distractions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all! I hope you like this chapter and I hope you're ready for jealous Amy in the next. Today I have "Dirge Without Music" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
> 
>  
> 
> _Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you._
> 
> _Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust._
> 
>  _ _A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,__
> 
>  _ _ _A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.___
> 
> __  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope u like this.  
> title is a sappho fragment. here's it in full:  
> " _—oh it_  
>  it puts the heart in my chest on wings  
> for when I look at you, even a moment, no speaking  
> is left in me  
> "  
> 


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